1 00:00:11,044 --> 00:00:12,312 - (female announcer) Production funding 2 00:00:12,312 --> 00:00:15,515 for Behind the Headlines is made possible in part by 3 00:00:15,515 --> 00:00:17,584 the WKNO Production Fund, 4 00:00:17,584 --> 00:00:19,786 the WKNO Endowment Fund, 5 00:00:19,786 --> 00:00:22,655 and by viewers like you, thank you. 6 00:00:23,656 --> 00:00:26,092 - Infrastructure and Public Works in Memphis, 7 00:00:26,092 --> 00:00:28,428 tonight on Behind the Headlines. 8 00:00:28,428 --> 00:00:31,264 [intense orchestral music] 9 00:00:47,047 --> 00:00:48,815 I'm Eric Barnes with The Daily Memphian. 10 00:00:48,815 --> 00:00:50,183 Thanks for joining us. 11 00:00:50,183 --> 00:00:52,452 I'm joined tonight by Robert Knecht, 12 00:00:52,452 --> 00:00:54,054 Director of Public Works for the City of Memphis. 13 00:00:54,054 --> 00:00:55,755 Thanks for being here. - Thank you for having me. 14 00:00:55,755 --> 00:00:57,057 - Along with Bill Dries, 15 00:00:57,057 --> 00:00:59,359 reporter with The Daily Memphian. 16 00:00:59,359 --> 00:01:01,261 Let's start with just some basics for folks 17 00:01:01,261 --> 00:01:02,962 'cause I think when you say public works, 18 00:01:02,962 --> 00:01:03,997 you say infrastructure, 19 00:01:03,997 --> 00:01:05,999 people probably have a bunch of assumptions 20 00:01:05,999 --> 00:01:08,868 about what that includes and some of it does, 21 00:01:08,868 --> 00:01:10,170 some of it it does not. 22 00:01:10,170 --> 00:01:11,671 So, real quickly, 23 00:01:11,671 --> 00:01:14,574 what is under Public Works for the City of Memphis? 24 00:01:14,574 --> 00:01:16,810 - So I have three main departments. 25 00:01:16,810 --> 00:01:19,412 We structure it by organization, by departments. 26 00:01:19,412 --> 00:01:22,348 And so one of them is maintenance department, 27 00:01:22,348 --> 00:01:25,085 which covers all of our stormwater infrastructure, 28 00:01:25,085 --> 00:01:28,521 all of our roads and bridges, right away maintenance, 29 00:01:28,521 --> 00:01:30,356 street sweeping, those functions are 30 00:01:30,356 --> 00:01:31,858 kind of under that department. 31 00:01:31,858 --> 00:01:33,526 Then I have neighborhood improvement, 32 00:01:33,526 --> 00:01:36,129 which is all the residential commercial code enforcement 33 00:01:36,129 --> 00:01:38,932 and environmental enforcement in Memphis City Beautiful. 34 00:01:38,932 --> 00:01:40,166 And then I have all the wastewater, 35 00:01:40,166 --> 00:01:41,968 which is all the wastewater collection 36 00:01:41,968 --> 00:01:43,670 and treatment, which is actually, 37 00:01:43,670 --> 00:01:45,939 we serve more than the city of Memphis. 38 00:01:45,939 --> 00:01:48,441 We serve 850,000 people with wastewater. 39 00:01:48,441 --> 00:01:50,009 - In the suburbs and unincorporated- 40 00:01:50,009 --> 00:01:52,245 - And even Horn Lake. - And Horn Lake, oh. 41 00:01:52,245 --> 00:01:53,713 - Temporarily for another eight years. 42 00:01:53,713 --> 00:01:55,281 - Okay. And we'll talk through all that stuff. 43 00:01:55,281 --> 00:01:57,650 But what it doesn't include, 'cause I imagine there 44 00:01:57,650 --> 00:01:59,352 are things that people will listen to and say, "Well, 45 00:01:59,352 --> 00:02:00,854 why didn't you ask 'em about trash collection?" 46 00:02:00,854 --> 00:02:02,555 That's not under public works. 47 00:02:02,555 --> 00:02:05,358 - It was up until about three, it's about four years ago. 48 00:02:05,358 --> 00:02:07,660 I had it under as part of Public Works, yes. 49 00:02:07,660 --> 00:02:09,796 - Doesn't include parks. - No. 50 00:02:09,796 --> 00:02:11,764 - Doesn't include MLGW, 51 00:02:11,764 --> 00:02:14,501 a separate division, a separate entity, really. 52 00:02:14,501 --> 00:02:16,436 - They collect our stormwater fee 53 00:02:16,436 --> 00:02:18,605 and our sewer fees for us on the utility bill. 54 00:02:18,605 --> 00:02:20,673 So we pay them for those services. 55 00:02:20,673 --> 00:02:21,774 - Okay. For the collection. 56 00:02:21,774 --> 00:02:22,976 So people see that on their bill. 57 00:02:22,976 --> 00:02:24,344 So they kind of merge those things together. 58 00:02:24,344 --> 00:02:25,678 Office of Planning and Development, 59 00:02:25,678 --> 00:02:26,913 you must work closely with them, 60 00:02:26,913 --> 00:02:28,581 but that is actually a separate, 61 00:02:28,581 --> 00:02:30,950 Housing and Community Development, separate. 62 00:02:30,950 --> 00:02:33,086 And is general services separate? 63 00:02:33,086 --> 00:02:34,387 - Yes. - It is? 64 00:02:34,387 --> 00:02:36,356 General services includes, I know it's not under you, 65 00:02:36,356 --> 00:02:38,024 but just so, this is super wonky. 66 00:02:38,024 --> 00:02:39,792 - It's facility maintenance and then the fleet, 67 00:02:39,792 --> 00:02:41,194 a lot of the fleet maintenance. 68 00:02:42,262 --> 00:02:43,830 City engineering is another division 69 00:02:43,830 --> 00:02:46,699 of itself, but that's one of our biggest partner division. 70 00:02:46,699 --> 00:02:48,902 - City engineering. Okay. 71 00:02:48,902 --> 00:02:50,236 Again, I just wanna lay that out 72 00:02:50,236 --> 00:02:52,138 so people understand kind of where you are 73 00:02:52,138 --> 00:02:57,110 and what you're doing, your spend, the things you spend 74 00:02:57,110 --> 00:03:01,781 comes from, I should say you're funded by what? 75 00:03:01,781 --> 00:03:04,184 It's a mix of taxes, fees, 76 00:03:04,184 --> 00:03:06,419 there could be some state money, some federal money. 77 00:03:06,419 --> 00:03:08,054 - All the above. - Is that, all the above? 78 00:03:08,054 --> 00:03:09,889 Most of my budget is fees based. 79 00:03:09,889 --> 00:03:11,658 And I have two utilities. 80 00:03:11,658 --> 00:03:12,926 I'm a utility director for, 81 00:03:12,926 --> 00:03:15,562 you know, a sewer system and a stormwater system. 82 00:03:15,562 --> 00:03:17,497 But the general fund is the smallest piece, 83 00:03:17,497 --> 00:03:18,631 actually, of my budget. 84 00:03:18,631 --> 00:03:21,100 My budget's $230 million annually. 85 00:03:21,100 --> 00:03:22,936 And I have a $2 billion capital budget. 86 00:03:22,936 --> 00:03:24,204 I have the biggest capital budget. 87 00:03:24,204 --> 00:03:26,206 - Yeah, that's 2 billion a year? 88 00:03:26,206 --> 00:03:28,608 - No, that's just planned. - Planned out over 89 00:03:28,608 --> 00:03:30,710 a five to plus year horizon. - Yeah. 90 00:03:30,710 --> 00:03:33,947 It's gonna depend on how much money revenues you have. 91 00:03:33,947 --> 00:03:35,648 - Okay, one more and then I'm gonna go to Bill, 92 00:03:35,648 --> 00:03:37,383 we'll get more into the kind of current issues, 93 00:03:37,383 --> 00:03:39,252 but one is, we're going into budget season 94 00:03:39,252 --> 00:03:40,920 just this week, and we're, I should note 95 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:42,055 that we're holding this a week. 96 00:03:42,055 --> 00:03:44,290 So we recorded this two weeks ago as you watch it, 97 00:03:44,290 --> 00:03:47,560 but Paul Young, your new boss, the mayor 98 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,030 said there's at least a $30 million budget gap that came 99 00:03:51,030 --> 00:03:52,865 after a $10 million budget gap. 100 00:03:52,865 --> 00:03:55,101 So I think it's a total of 40 so far that's been found. 101 00:03:55,101 --> 00:03:56,603 That's the budget gap. 102 00:03:56,603 --> 00:03:59,339 He's talking about a potential property tax increase. 103 00:03:59,339 --> 00:04:03,509 Do you have any sense yet of how 104 00:04:03,509 --> 00:04:07,814 a tighter budget could impact the services you provide? 105 00:04:07,814 --> 00:04:10,116 - By tighter, you mean no increase? 106 00:04:10,116 --> 00:04:10,950 - No increase. 107 00:04:10,950 --> 00:04:12,819 Or even, I mean... 108 00:04:12,819 --> 00:04:16,322 - Yeah, I mean, it's gonna mean severe reductions in some 109 00:04:16,322 --> 00:04:19,192 areas, you know, I mean, there's just, revenues have 110 00:04:19,192 --> 00:04:20,593 to meet your expenditures. 111 00:04:20,593 --> 00:04:22,528 So I don't know what it would look like, 112 00:04:22,528 --> 00:04:24,397 but you know, if we don't have the $40 million, 113 00:04:24,397 --> 00:04:27,400 there's gonna be changes in the way, on operations. 114 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:30,103 - And would that be, again, given that the sewers 115 00:04:30,103 --> 00:04:32,138 and the kinda more utility things are paid for 116 00:04:32,138 --> 00:04:33,973 through fees, maybe that's less effective. 117 00:04:33,973 --> 00:04:37,310 But things like paving roads, which your former boss, 118 00:04:37,310 --> 00:04:39,946 Jim Strickland, would talk very often about 119 00:04:39,946 --> 00:04:41,848 how much when he was out in the public, 120 00:04:41,848 --> 00:04:43,983 when he was at a community meeting, things 121 00:04:43,983 --> 00:04:46,886 that might seem simple or seem small like potholes 122 00:04:46,886 --> 00:04:49,689 and road paving are incredibly important to citizens. 123 00:04:49,689 --> 00:04:52,725 Is that part of what could get impacted if there is 124 00:04:52,725 --> 00:04:54,294 not as much money to go around? 125 00:04:54,294 --> 00:04:57,230 - Well, the fees obviously pay for the system. 126 00:04:57,230 --> 00:04:59,465 So those will not be impacted. 127 00:04:59,465 --> 00:05:01,567 It is the general funded items, you know, 128 00:05:01,567 --> 00:05:02,802 like street maintenance 129 00:05:02,802 --> 00:05:06,272 and code enforcement, which are the ones that would be 130 00:05:06,272 --> 00:05:11,277 the most difficult to work through given budget challenges. 131 00:05:11,277 --> 00:05:13,046 And paving and roads 132 00:05:13,046 --> 00:05:14,947 and code enforcement, cutting grass, 133 00:05:14,947 --> 00:05:16,182 you know, maintaining properties. 134 00:05:16,182 --> 00:05:18,384 Yeah, those are the ones that are funded by that. 135 00:05:18,384 --> 00:05:20,820 - Yeah. Bill? 136 00:05:20,820 --> 00:05:23,790 - I wanted to also ask you about 137 00:05:23,790 --> 00:05:27,427 one of the capital projects, and that is the cobblestones. 138 00:05:27,427 --> 00:05:31,164 And you've been involved in this along with a lot 139 00:05:31,164 --> 00:05:35,068 of engineering on Manny Belin, the city engineer's part. 140 00:05:35,068 --> 00:05:37,870 You've both kind of been working together on that. 141 00:05:37,870 --> 00:05:41,007 Where is that project at this point? 142 00:05:41,007 --> 00:05:42,575 Because you had some real problems 143 00:05:42,575 --> 00:05:45,178 with the river being at record lows 144 00:05:45,178 --> 00:05:49,415 and that caused some damage beneath the stones. 145 00:05:49,415 --> 00:05:52,251 - Yeah, actually the dredging that happened during the, 146 00:05:52,251 --> 00:05:55,888 you know, 'cause the Corp had to ensure, you know, 147 00:05:55,888 --> 00:05:57,790 river traffic, the capacity for river traffic. 148 00:05:57,790 --> 00:05:59,359 So they got some emergency funding 149 00:05:59,359 --> 00:06:02,095 and during the low water they dredged up into the harbor 150 00:06:02,095 --> 00:06:04,564 and that caused severe subsidence. 151 00:06:04,564 --> 00:06:07,533 And by subsidence we mean soil loss, erosion. 152 00:06:07,533 --> 00:06:10,303 And so there was large sections of the cobblestones 153 00:06:10,303 --> 00:06:12,205 that had been completed, failed. 154 00:06:12,205 --> 00:06:14,941 So what we're working with 155 00:06:14,941 --> 00:06:17,343 and this is a state and federal funding. 156 00:06:17,343 --> 00:06:19,545 So TDOT, the State of Tennessee's involved, 157 00:06:19,545 --> 00:06:22,949 we recently approached them about doing a partial 158 00:06:22,949 --> 00:06:25,017 substantial completion 159 00:06:25,017 --> 00:06:27,754 because there are sections of it that are done. 160 00:06:27,754 --> 00:06:30,656 So they want to complete, I guess recognize 161 00:06:30,656 --> 00:06:32,759 that's done and then we can then work 162 00:06:32,759 --> 00:06:35,294 to finalize and repair the area 163 00:06:35,294 --> 00:06:37,830 and the outfall that failed. 164 00:06:37,830 --> 00:06:39,532 And so we got the funding in place. 165 00:06:39,532 --> 00:06:42,735 The contractor is supposed to get started this summer 166 00:06:42,735 --> 00:06:45,138 and be done by the first of the year, 167 00:06:45,138 --> 00:06:47,673 by January of the next year. - Right. 168 00:06:47,673 --> 00:06:50,743 Because if you look at the cobblestone, there are some 169 00:06:50,743 --> 00:06:52,512 improvements that you can see that have been made. 170 00:06:52,512 --> 00:06:53,813 There are some steps there. 171 00:06:53,813 --> 00:06:56,416 You can kind of see what the plan is for it 172 00:06:56,416 --> 00:06:58,785 has started to take shape 173 00:06:58,785 --> 00:07:02,688 to some degree there. 174 00:07:02,688 --> 00:07:05,792 And then this happened with the river 175 00:07:05,792 --> 00:07:08,694 and the dredging happened because of the low river 176 00:07:08,694 --> 00:07:11,731 and it kind of had a chain reaction effect on that. 177 00:07:12,732 --> 00:07:15,201 - Well, the most, I think the most interesting thing that, 178 00:07:15,201 --> 00:07:16,469 not just the failure, 179 00:07:16,469 --> 00:07:18,070 but what happened that this is one 180 00:07:18,070 --> 00:07:19,806 of the unique things about these types of projects 181 00:07:19,806 --> 00:07:21,174 that people don't understand is, 182 00:07:21,174 --> 00:07:24,677 when we started the project, we found a lot more cobblestone 183 00:07:24,677 --> 00:07:26,879 that we didn't know about 'cause the river was low. 184 00:07:26,879 --> 00:07:29,348 And that change in scope was pretty significant 185 00:07:29,348 --> 00:07:31,617 because there's all these guidelines 186 00:07:31,617 --> 00:07:34,520 that we have to follow, like we call SHIPO and NEPA. 187 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:36,722 These are just an acronyms for programs, 188 00:07:36,722 --> 00:07:37,924 that environmental programs 189 00:07:37,924 --> 00:07:39,492 or historic preservation programs, 190 00:07:39,492 --> 00:07:40,927 that we have to comply with. 191 00:07:40,927 --> 00:07:42,829 And when you change the scope, you have to go back 192 00:07:42,829 --> 00:07:44,497 and get compliance for all that. 193 00:07:44,497 --> 00:07:46,199 And those cause lots of delays 194 00:07:46,199 --> 00:07:50,036 to construction timelines, unforeseen challenges like that. 195 00:07:50,036 --> 00:07:52,805 So this subsidence is just another example 196 00:07:52,805 --> 00:07:54,574 of a very long project 197 00:07:54,574 --> 00:07:56,375 and a very complicated project that's, 198 00:07:56,375 --> 00:07:58,711 people are gonna say, "It takes forever. 199 00:07:58,711 --> 00:08:00,079 Why does it take so long?" 200 00:08:00,079 --> 00:08:01,781 And that's some of the reasons, 201 00:08:01,781 --> 00:08:04,484 you know, you unforeseen issues pop up all the time. 202 00:08:04,484 --> 00:08:07,420 - Right. So people will see 203 00:08:07,420 --> 00:08:09,856 crews working on it sometime 204 00:08:09,856 --> 00:08:12,325 this summer, too. - Yes. 205 00:08:12,325 --> 00:08:14,260 - All right. - We had to get approval 206 00:08:14,260 --> 00:08:16,162 from the state and get everybody on to agree. 207 00:08:16,162 --> 00:08:17,296 We just couldn't start. 208 00:08:17,296 --> 00:08:18,464 And once we change the scope, 209 00:08:18,464 --> 00:08:20,500 and as I mentioned, all that has to be signed off on. 210 00:08:20,500 --> 00:08:24,136 So that's the bureaucratic process that takes on. 211 00:08:24,136 --> 00:08:25,771 - Right. 212 00:08:25,771 --> 00:08:28,241 Tonight as we record this show, I'm going 213 00:08:28,241 --> 00:08:29,709 to the first public hearing 214 00:08:29,709 --> 00:08:32,979 that TDOT is having on the new bridge, 215 00:08:32,979 --> 00:08:35,348 or I guess you could call it the replacement bridge 216 00:08:35,348 --> 00:08:36,949 for the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge. 217 00:08:36,949 --> 00:08:40,686 Is Public Works involved in that? 218 00:08:40,686 --> 00:08:42,321 - We've been involved in the discussions, 219 00:08:42,321 --> 00:08:44,991 and because obviously, you know, there's a lot 220 00:08:44,991 --> 00:08:48,327 of issues will be in any time you do major construction, 221 00:08:48,327 --> 00:08:50,830 traffic, whatever, congestion, you know, 222 00:08:50,830 --> 00:08:54,901 any improvements that will affect local infrastructure 223 00:08:54,901 --> 00:08:57,203 and you know, they're always good partners with us 224 00:08:57,203 --> 00:09:00,406 and make sure, you know, City of Memphis Public Works 225 00:09:00,406 --> 00:09:03,109 and engineering are involved. - Right. 226 00:09:03,109 --> 00:09:04,710 Right. 227 00:09:04,710 --> 00:09:08,614 The thing that I think a lot of people 228 00:09:08,614 --> 00:09:12,718 don't think about, but you think about a lot 229 00:09:12,718 --> 00:09:17,156 is this whole business of, what happens to wastewater 230 00:09:17,156 --> 00:09:20,393 when it goes someplace, a lot of the things 231 00:09:20,393 --> 00:09:21,894 that you cover, I think, are things 232 00:09:21,894 --> 00:09:26,098 that people may not think about until something goes wrong 233 00:09:26,098 --> 00:09:28,601 or something unexpected happens on it. 234 00:09:28,601 --> 00:09:31,003 So where is the city's policy in terms 235 00:09:31,003 --> 00:09:34,307 of the decision made by Mayor Strickland 236 00:09:34,307 --> 00:09:38,244 to say we're not gonna take the wastewater from 237 00:09:38,244 --> 00:09:41,414 unincorporated areas, if we have an evergreen agreement, 238 00:09:41,414 --> 00:09:44,150 yes, we'll keep that in place. 239 00:09:44,150 --> 00:09:47,853 Where is that decision at this point? 240 00:09:47,853 --> 00:09:50,356 - So Mayor Young is evaluating the status. 241 00:09:50,356 --> 00:09:53,159 You know, we had discussions about it. 242 00:09:53,159 --> 00:09:54,760 The policy still is there. 243 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:57,663 We're not accepting any new connections. 244 00:09:57,663 --> 00:10:02,401 Now, one of the confusions that that often come up are, 245 00:10:02,401 --> 00:10:05,905 but when we enacted the policy in 2008, 246 00:10:05,905 --> 00:10:09,241 there were quite a few properties out in these 247 00:10:09,241 --> 00:10:12,378 unincorporated areas, which were our future reserve, right? 248 00:10:12,378 --> 00:10:14,046 That's the only reason why the sewer is out there. 249 00:10:14,046 --> 00:10:15,848 The city was going to annex them. 250 00:10:15,848 --> 00:10:18,651 So we quit annexing and de-annexing. 251 00:10:18,651 --> 00:10:21,053 That changed that whole, you know, paradigm. 252 00:10:21,053 --> 00:10:24,490 But we've connected 80, I think 79 253 00:10:24,490 --> 00:10:27,526 or 80 new properties out there since that time 254 00:10:27,526 --> 00:10:30,663 because we had a legal requirement to do so. 255 00:10:30,663 --> 00:10:33,032 So there have been quite a few that have connected. 256 00:10:33,032 --> 00:10:35,101 If everybody thinks that none have, no, 257 00:10:35,101 --> 00:10:36,969 we legally have allowed it. 258 00:10:36,969 --> 00:10:40,106 But the city policy still is there in place 259 00:10:40,106 --> 00:10:42,041 and the mayor's kind of reviewing it 260 00:10:42,041 --> 00:10:45,077 and making a decision for his administration to decide 261 00:10:45,077 --> 00:10:47,013 what direction they want to go. 262 00:10:47,013 --> 00:10:49,115 But we are honoring all of our contractual agreements. 263 00:10:49,115 --> 00:10:51,183 You know, we serve Bartlett, we serve, you know, 264 00:10:51,183 --> 00:10:53,819 we had served Lakeland, we kind of served too, 265 00:10:53,819 --> 00:10:56,822 but you know, Millington, Collierville, Germantown, 266 00:10:56,822 --> 00:10:59,058 you know, Collierville and Millington 267 00:10:59,058 --> 00:11:01,494 and Lakeland are coming off at some point. 268 00:11:01,494 --> 00:11:03,496 But Germantown and Bartlett are gonna be 269 00:11:03,496 --> 00:11:05,264 longtime partners for us. - Right. 270 00:11:05,264 --> 00:11:08,167 Because this isn't something you can just stop on a dime. 271 00:11:09,568 --> 00:11:12,405 It's, you know, plans have been made 272 00:11:12,405 --> 00:11:14,874 and the annexation law changed 273 00:11:14,874 --> 00:11:17,610 and now it's annexation by referendum. 274 00:11:17,610 --> 00:11:21,814 But nevertheless, this still continued 275 00:11:21,814 --> 00:11:25,418 and in the process the city made some big improvements 276 00:11:25,418 --> 00:11:28,320 to the two wastewater treatment plants that you have. 277 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:30,189 And there's some new technology there 278 00:11:30,189 --> 00:11:32,692 that involves the treatment of the water, 279 00:11:32,692 --> 00:11:36,696 which affects the quality of what comes out of the plant. 280 00:11:36,696 --> 00:11:40,199 And it's a higher quality now than it has 281 00:11:40,199 --> 00:11:42,168 been previously, right? 282 00:11:42,168 --> 00:11:43,369 - Yeah. 283 00:11:43,369 --> 00:11:45,337 We're, some of the biggest investments we're making, 284 00:11:45,337 --> 00:11:48,340 we're spending $325 million down at GE Maxim, 285 00:11:48,340 --> 00:11:50,242 which is our south wastewater treatment plant 286 00:11:50,242 --> 00:11:52,812 to modernize, improve. 287 00:11:52,812 --> 00:11:56,048 And once all that's done, it'll be a huge improvement 288 00:11:56,048 --> 00:11:58,350 to our biological treatment capacity 289 00:11:58,350 --> 00:12:01,087 and improve the discharge or effluent. 290 00:12:01,087 --> 00:12:03,422 And we did add parasitic acid, 291 00:12:03,422 --> 00:12:05,624 so we disinfect the wastewater 292 00:12:05,624 --> 00:12:07,560 before it gets discharged to the Mississippi River, 293 00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:09,328 both facilities the north and south. 294 00:12:09,328 --> 00:12:10,763 We did that. 295 00:12:10,763 --> 00:12:13,566 And that expense was a huge impact 296 00:12:13,566 --> 00:12:14,934 to our operating budget, you know, 297 00:12:14,934 --> 00:12:18,104 'cause the chemical demand is like, went from, you know, 298 00:12:18,104 --> 00:12:19,972 five million dollars a year to twenty-two million dollars 299 00:12:19,972 --> 00:12:22,374 a year just for the disinfection alone. 300 00:12:22,374 --> 00:12:25,377 So we're doing it, it's a good thing, 301 00:12:25,377 --> 00:12:29,348 but it comes at a pretty significant cost as well. 302 00:12:29,348 --> 00:12:31,217 - Right. Right. 303 00:12:31,217 --> 00:12:33,786 - I was gonna get, stay with water for a second. 304 00:12:33,786 --> 00:12:35,888 And the Biden administration, 305 00:12:35,888 --> 00:12:37,156 the federal government, came out with some rules 306 00:12:37,156 --> 00:12:39,625 around forever chemicals, you know, identified 307 00:12:39,625 --> 00:12:41,060 as chemicals that quote unquote 308 00:12:41,060 --> 00:12:43,429 "Never go away," that are dangerous in the water. 309 00:12:43,429 --> 00:12:45,865 Will that be a challenge for you 310 00:12:45,865 --> 00:12:47,767 or is that a challenge for MLGW in 311 00:12:47,767 --> 00:12:50,336 the mix of entities here? 312 00:12:50,336 --> 00:12:51,837 - Both. - Both. 313 00:12:51,837 --> 00:12:54,673 - PFAS has been one of the major discussion items. 314 00:12:54,673 --> 00:12:56,308 - PFAS stands for what? 315 00:12:56,308 --> 00:12:57,843 - Oh, it's-- - Sorry. [Eric laughs] 316 00:12:57,843 --> 00:13:00,613 - It's Polyfluorinated, - But it's a forever chemical. 317 00:13:00,613 --> 00:13:02,047 Its dangerous chemicals. - They're long-chain 318 00:13:02,047 --> 00:13:04,283 fluorinated chemicals and they are used in firefighting foam. 319 00:13:04,283 --> 00:13:07,653 They're used in lots of different applications 320 00:13:07,653 --> 00:13:10,022 and they are something that's come about 321 00:13:10,022 --> 00:13:13,659 that's got raised a lot of concerns for a lot of us, 322 00:13:13,659 --> 00:13:15,995 and in the wastewater industry particularly, 323 00:13:15,995 --> 00:13:17,930 and in drinking water 324 00:13:17,930 --> 00:13:20,733 because they're finding 'em working their way through, 325 00:13:20,733 --> 00:13:23,402 you know, agriculture and other ways. 326 00:13:23,402 --> 00:13:25,004 And finally getting into, you know, 327 00:13:25,004 --> 00:13:27,840 maybe, they're not in MLGW, they're not in our aquifer, 328 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:30,943 but you know, they're finding 'em throughout in the country 329 00:13:30,943 --> 00:13:32,878 and they are worried about the impacts of them. 330 00:13:32,878 --> 00:13:34,413 So will we be impacted? 331 00:13:34,413 --> 00:13:36,515 It's, there's still a lot of EPA, 332 00:13:36,515 --> 00:13:39,652 a lot of discussion going on because we're not the generator. 333 00:13:39,652 --> 00:13:43,122 If you look at federal law, most of the responsibility 334 00:13:43,122 --> 00:13:46,625 to address chemicals are usually by 335 00:13:46,625 --> 00:13:48,294 what we call the generator. 336 00:13:48,294 --> 00:13:49,962 - Which in our case would be MLGW. 337 00:13:49,962 --> 00:13:52,264 - No, no, it'd be the chemical company 338 00:13:52,264 --> 00:13:54,600 or whoever makes the product. - Oh, okay. 339 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:55,835 - The generator of the actual, 340 00:13:55,835 --> 00:13:59,004 of the material that was created, the cradle to grave, 341 00:13:59,004 --> 00:14:01,106 they call that, you know, that's the whole, 342 00:14:01,106 --> 00:14:04,677 like RICRA, they call that, is under the federal guidelines. 343 00:14:06,045 --> 00:14:09,348 - I wanted to also go back to, I cut Bill off, 344 00:14:09,348 --> 00:14:10,716 but I'm gonna switch things up, 345 00:14:10,716 --> 00:14:12,051 and Bill might come back to some other things. 346 00:14:12,051 --> 00:14:13,552 So apologies to Bill here, but paving, 347 00:14:13,552 --> 00:14:15,187 and I mentioned at the top of the show, it's one 348 00:14:15,187 --> 00:14:16,822 of the things we hear about, we see in comments, 349 00:14:16,822 --> 00:14:18,591 I hear about it from people. 350 00:14:18,591 --> 00:14:21,327 The paving cycle was under Strickland. 351 00:14:21,327 --> 00:14:23,362 He talked a lot about how he increased the amount 352 00:14:23,362 --> 00:14:24,630 of money, pretty dramatically, 353 00:14:24,630 --> 00:14:26,699 that was going into paving, shortening the paving cycle 354 00:14:26,699 --> 00:14:29,201 from, I think, was over 20 or 30 years 355 00:14:29,201 --> 00:14:31,837 or something like that, that a given street would be fully 356 00:14:31,837 --> 00:14:34,006 repaved down to... 357 00:14:34,006 --> 00:14:36,675 It's a question, what is the schedule now 358 00:14:36,675 --> 00:14:38,477 for city of Memphis streets? 359 00:14:38,477 --> 00:14:40,880 And then let's also talk about potholes, 360 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:43,148 'cause people have intense feelings about potholes. 361 00:14:43,148 --> 00:14:44,350 But let's start with the paving cycle. 362 00:14:44,350 --> 00:14:45,417 - Sure. 363 00:14:45,417 --> 00:14:46,919 Yeah. So Mayor Strickland was a very big 364 00:14:46,919 --> 00:14:48,254 proponent of paving. 365 00:14:48,254 --> 00:14:51,657 So he, the budget that was allocated by his administration 366 00:14:51,657 --> 00:14:54,927 was as much as the prior 20 years. 367 00:14:54,927 --> 00:14:57,596 So it had, you know, had struggled with funding, 368 00:14:57,596 --> 00:15:00,299 'cause the city had a lot of financial challenges. 369 00:15:00,299 --> 00:15:02,601 And that was one of the issues that, you know, 370 00:15:02,601 --> 00:15:04,003 how much funding do we have for capital? 371 00:15:04,003 --> 00:15:06,405 And this is a question that people don't understand, 372 00:15:06,405 --> 00:15:09,008 you know, paving is a capitalized item. 373 00:15:09,008 --> 00:15:12,578 CIP budget is not operating, potholes are operating. 374 00:15:12,578 --> 00:15:14,013 But when you go to repaving, 375 00:15:14,013 --> 00:15:16,181 or resurfacing as we call it, that has to be funded 376 00:15:16,181 --> 00:15:17,616 through your CIP budget. 377 00:15:17,616 --> 00:15:20,819 And paving has been the largest item. 378 00:15:20,819 --> 00:15:23,489 Out of the $86 million budget, it was $20 million. 379 00:15:23,489 --> 00:15:28,527 So 25% of the city's capital budget was going to paving. 380 00:15:28,527 --> 00:15:30,329 And that really made a huge improvement 381 00:15:30,329 --> 00:15:32,665 to our infrastructure because we were, you know, 382 00:15:32,665 --> 00:15:36,035 at a 50-year, 60-year cycle, we got it down 383 00:15:36,035 --> 00:15:39,672 to a 25-year cycle, which is the industry standard. 384 00:15:39,672 --> 00:15:41,173 So, - Is 20, 25? 385 00:15:41,173 --> 00:15:42,808 - Twenty-five years, just in aggregate. 386 00:15:42,808 --> 00:15:44,643 Now, not every city street we're talking about, 387 00:15:44,643 --> 00:15:47,246 major streets obviously have a heavier traffic would be 388 00:15:47,246 --> 00:15:51,183 A shorter cycle, but aggregate, we call it average. 389 00:15:51,183 --> 00:15:53,686 So, I mean [coughs] 390 00:15:53,686 --> 00:15:55,254 I mean with those investments, we've made 391 00:15:55,254 --> 00:15:56,422 huge improvements in paving. 392 00:15:56,422 --> 00:15:59,525 And I said the city's huge, 320 square miles, 393 00:15:59,525 --> 00:16:00,926 this is something people don't know. 394 00:16:00,926 --> 00:16:05,931 We have 6,714 lane miles of roadway in our city. 395 00:16:05,931 --> 00:16:07,132 Think about that. 396 00:16:07,132 --> 00:16:09,635 That's back and forth from New York to California. 397 00:16:09,635 --> 00:16:11,503 That's a lot of roads 398 00:16:11,503 --> 00:16:14,506 and that's a difficult amount of inventory to manage. 399 00:16:14,506 --> 00:16:16,208 - And that does not include the state routes? 400 00:16:16,208 --> 00:16:17,710 - No, the state routes are 900 miles. 401 00:16:17,710 --> 00:16:19,545 - So the state routes kind of blow people's mind again, 402 00:16:19,545 --> 00:16:21,613 I mean it's wonky, but it's, people see Poplar 403 00:16:21,613 --> 00:16:22,715 and they think that's a city road, 404 00:16:22,715 --> 00:16:24,216 that's actually still a state road. 405 00:16:24,216 --> 00:16:26,251 - We don't pave or fix potholes on these roads. 406 00:16:26,251 --> 00:16:28,821 - Jackson, Union, you correct me if I'm wrong, 407 00:16:28,821 --> 00:16:32,057 Summer, Lamar, South 3rd, Crump, the Parkways. 408 00:16:32,057 --> 00:16:34,259 A lot of downtown, actually some of the 409 00:16:34,259 --> 00:16:36,395 main roads downtown are actually state routes. 410 00:16:36,395 --> 00:16:37,830 - Yeah, Danny Thomas. 411 00:16:37,830 --> 00:16:38,831 - Danny Thomas. 412 00:16:38,831 --> 00:16:40,466 So how does that work? 413 00:16:40,466 --> 00:16:41,800 Do you just call TDOT 414 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:45,371 and say, hey, please, please, please repave this street? 415 00:16:45,371 --> 00:16:47,673 Or is it completely separate 416 00:16:47,673 --> 00:16:49,274 in terms of the decision making? 417 00:16:49,274 --> 00:16:51,710 Is it all made up in Nashville at the Capitol? 418 00:16:51,710 --> 00:16:53,712 - I mean, there is a good partnership, 419 00:16:53,712 --> 00:16:55,180 but they make all the decisions. 420 00:16:55,180 --> 00:16:57,082 They have their own assessment criteria 421 00:16:57,082 --> 00:17:00,552 and programming for the county, Shelby County in this case, 422 00:17:00,552 --> 00:17:02,421 in which roadways they're gonna budget. 423 00:17:02,421 --> 00:17:04,590 The interstates always get the highest priority 424 00:17:04,590 --> 00:17:06,258 because they're federal. 425 00:17:06,258 --> 00:17:07,826 So they're gonna get, you know, 426 00:17:07,826 --> 00:17:10,362 special funding attention from the state, 427 00:17:10,362 --> 00:17:13,132 The major state routes, Poplar, you know, 428 00:17:13,132 --> 00:17:15,300 which is a huge heavily-used corridor, 429 00:17:15,300 --> 00:17:18,704 gets it's own fair share, Shelby Drive and others get, 430 00:17:18,704 --> 00:17:19,972 but they're not gonna get the same level 431 00:17:19,972 --> 00:17:21,840 of service that the state would give to-- 432 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:23,642 - Am I right though that, that in the Strickland 433 00:17:23,642 --> 00:17:26,011 administration, some of those state routes, 434 00:17:26,011 --> 00:17:29,281 the city had historically done themselves, the city did it 435 00:17:29,281 --> 00:17:30,849 and then sent a bill to the state 436 00:17:30,849 --> 00:17:33,919 and kind of got back whatever reimbursement 437 00:17:33,919 --> 00:17:35,454 they got back. 438 00:17:35,454 --> 00:17:36,688 Is that correct? 439 00:17:36,688 --> 00:17:38,524 There was a change to the way the relationship worked. 440 00:17:38,524 --> 00:17:41,026 - We used to maintain, help maintain the state routes 441 00:17:41,026 --> 00:17:42,261 and we were kind of helping 442 00:17:42,261 --> 00:17:44,229 the interstate cutting and all that. 443 00:17:44,229 --> 00:17:47,399 We had taken a contract with the state 444 00:17:47,399 --> 00:17:49,568 to provide those to cover the state 445 00:17:49,568 --> 00:17:52,304 and yeah, we were subsidizing the state's services. 446 00:17:52,304 --> 00:17:54,673 Now that, not paving or potholes, that was still them, 447 00:17:54,673 --> 00:17:56,575 but just the cutting and maintenance 448 00:17:56,575 --> 00:17:59,278 and litter pickup, we were subsidizing, you know, 449 00:17:59,278 --> 00:18:00,646 three hundred thosand dollars a year 450 00:18:00,646 --> 00:18:03,715 and the state never would agree to fully fund that, 451 00:18:03,715 --> 00:18:06,718 you know, and so we just said, hey, well you do it then 452 00:18:06,718 --> 00:18:09,588 because I mean, we have our own infrastructure 453 00:18:09,588 --> 00:18:12,124 that needs to be funded at the right level 454 00:18:12,124 --> 00:18:14,259 versus funding the state's responsibilities. 455 00:18:14,259 --> 00:18:16,495 - And does it frustrate you if people are mad at 456 00:18:16,495 --> 00:18:19,031 city Public Works that, hey, there are these potholes 457 00:18:19,031 --> 00:18:20,466 on Poplar, on Lamar. 458 00:18:20,466 --> 00:18:23,168 There's these problems, and your hands are tied. 459 00:18:23,168 --> 00:18:24,503 - Yeah, I understand. 460 00:18:24,503 --> 00:18:26,271 Totally understand that. 461 00:18:26,271 --> 00:18:29,274 Everyone doesn't care, they just want it done. 462 00:18:29,274 --> 00:18:31,910 And they're frustrated by if there's any, you know, 463 00:18:31,910 --> 00:18:33,812 more bureaucracy, government bureaucracy 464 00:18:33,812 --> 00:18:36,115 and you know, why can't you guys just do it? 465 00:18:36,115 --> 00:18:38,617 You know, I mean it's just that there is, 466 00:18:38,617 --> 00:18:40,219 everybody has their own responsibilities 467 00:18:40,219 --> 00:18:43,122 and you know, I would prefer to give our citizens 468 00:18:43,122 --> 00:18:45,958 and what we own and we're responsible for 469 00:18:45,958 --> 00:18:48,026 the highest priority first. - Yeah. 470 00:18:48,026 --> 00:18:50,262 Bill? 471 00:18:50,262 --> 00:18:52,764 - You've also been working 472 00:18:52,764 --> 00:18:57,536 for several years now on a registry for landlords 473 00:18:58,904 --> 00:19:01,707 and so the city can more easily identify 474 00:19:01,707 --> 00:19:04,343 who owns blighted properties 475 00:19:04,343 --> 00:19:07,446 and hold them responsible for repairs 476 00:19:07,446 --> 00:19:10,115 and making sure that they're someplace 477 00:19:10,115 --> 00:19:13,285 that people can actually live in without worrying about it, 478 00:19:13,285 --> 00:19:15,587 you know, coming down around them. 479 00:19:15,587 --> 00:19:17,456 How has that been going? 480 00:19:17,456 --> 00:19:20,325 - We could spend the whole session just talking about this 481 00:19:20,325 --> 00:19:22,594 subject because it's such an important one. 482 00:19:22,594 --> 00:19:26,165 So, you know, living in substandard housing 483 00:19:26,165 --> 00:19:27,699 is deplorable. 484 00:19:27,699 --> 00:19:28,967 We can all agree, right? 485 00:19:28,967 --> 00:19:31,537 Families and children should not live in substandard housing. 486 00:19:31,537 --> 00:19:35,107 And so, we often encounter it, you know, 487 00:19:35,107 --> 00:19:38,243 especially on rental properties, a lot of substandard conditions. 488 00:19:38,243 --> 00:19:41,613 And so the best practice is to have 489 00:19:41,613 --> 00:19:45,284 a system in place to understand 490 00:19:45,284 --> 00:19:47,853 and know who all the owners 491 00:19:47,853 --> 00:19:49,354 of these types of properties are. 492 00:19:49,354 --> 00:19:51,490 So you can interact with them efficiently. 493 00:19:51,490 --> 00:19:54,526 And without the, like a registry-based system, 494 00:19:54,526 --> 00:19:56,528 which is the kind of the best practice you'll see 495 00:19:56,528 --> 00:19:58,730 all across the country by major cities. 496 00:19:58,730 --> 00:20:00,933 You can't find the owners 497 00:20:00,933 --> 00:20:03,335 or their representative without going 498 00:20:03,335 --> 00:20:05,170 through extensive research. 499 00:20:05,170 --> 00:20:07,372 And sometimes that research could take months, 500 00:20:07,372 --> 00:20:11,276 and all that time the situation is happening. 501 00:20:11,276 --> 00:20:13,111 So the whole purpose of a registry 502 00:20:13,111 --> 00:20:15,214 is just, the biggest thing is timely 503 00:20:15,214 --> 00:20:18,717 responsiveness between the city and the actual owner. 504 00:20:18,717 --> 00:20:21,220 And that's what we were trying to achieve. 505 00:20:21,220 --> 00:20:22,621 And that's what we've been working on 506 00:20:22,621 --> 00:20:24,923 and we've struggled to even get anywhere with it 507 00:20:24,923 --> 00:20:26,258 because the state, you know, 508 00:20:26,258 --> 00:20:29,928 changed the law, preempted us, saying that we would have 509 00:20:29,928 --> 00:20:32,064 to get state approval to enact such legislation. 510 00:20:32,064 --> 00:20:34,766 And we tried recently this last legislative session 511 00:20:34,766 --> 00:20:36,835 and weren't able to get it accomplished. 512 00:20:36,835 --> 00:20:40,405 - Because you've encountered considerable resistance from 513 00:20:40,405 --> 00:20:43,542 rental property owners who you know, 514 00:20:43,542 --> 00:20:47,212 and as I understand it, you can 515 00:20:47,212 --> 00:20:51,917 oftentimes find the company that's managing the property, 516 00:20:51,917 --> 00:20:55,287 but that's not who is held legally responsible. 517 00:20:55,287 --> 00:20:58,290 And once you get past the property manager, 518 00:20:58,290 --> 00:21:01,326 then it really gets difficult to find out who owns it 519 00:21:01,326 --> 00:21:05,264 or who owns a piece of it, who owns 32 pieces 520 00:21:05,264 --> 00:21:07,099 of it, et cetera, right? 521 00:21:07,099 --> 00:21:08,900 - Well I would actually a little bit to the opposite 522 00:21:08,900 --> 00:21:11,103 of that, I think it's easy to find the ownership 523 00:21:11,103 --> 00:21:13,839 because under state statute and under the laws, you know, 524 00:21:13,839 --> 00:21:17,075 the registered person is usually available on the assessor 525 00:21:17,075 --> 00:21:18,343 or registers. 526 00:21:18,343 --> 00:21:20,012 Transactionally, sometimes there's delays, 527 00:21:20,012 --> 00:21:21,346 but that's pretty accurate. 528 00:21:21,346 --> 00:21:22,914 It's finding someone who's responsible 529 00:21:22,914 --> 00:21:24,616 for maintenance is the problem, 530 00:21:24,616 --> 00:21:26,318 'cause you have these huge LLCs 531 00:21:26,318 --> 00:21:29,755 and these LLCs have been buying single-family properties 532 00:21:29,755 --> 00:21:31,523 in bulk, right? 533 00:21:31,523 --> 00:21:35,727 They buy a huge transactional, a hundred and fifty at a time 534 00:21:35,727 --> 00:21:38,230 just because the portfolio of properties. 535 00:21:38,230 --> 00:21:41,199 And then you know, who's maintaining it? 536 00:21:41,199 --> 00:21:43,535 Because they're gonna be spread out. 537 00:21:43,535 --> 00:21:47,005 So that's where the real trouble is having a local agent 538 00:21:47,005 --> 00:21:48,240 to communicate with. 539 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:49,675 That's where we struggle. 540 00:21:49,675 --> 00:21:51,677 - And is it a, so let's say, you know, 541 00:21:51,677 --> 00:21:54,579 House Company, LLC owns these 50 properties. 542 00:21:54,579 --> 00:21:56,948 You identify issues with those properties, 543 00:21:56,948 --> 00:21:58,917 you can figure out who the ownership is, 544 00:21:58,917 --> 00:22:01,253 but they then say back to you, what? 545 00:22:01,253 --> 00:22:04,256 Like, too bad, we're in New York and we don't care. 546 00:22:04,256 --> 00:22:06,992 I mean, how does that conversation go? 547 00:22:06,992 --> 00:22:08,327 - So, great question. 548 00:22:08,327 --> 00:22:10,262 And so if you, the data shows 549 00:22:10,262 --> 00:22:13,332 that rental properties generate three times the number 550 00:22:13,332 --> 00:22:16,168 of code violations over owner occupied, right? 551 00:22:16,168 --> 00:22:18,670 So that's one issue. 552 00:22:18,670 --> 00:22:22,641 Ownership LLCs don't necessarily wanna be bad owners. 553 00:22:22,641 --> 00:22:26,178 So once you finally get somebody, they'll fix the issue. 554 00:22:26,178 --> 00:22:27,879 They'll get involved, 555 00:22:27,879 --> 00:22:30,315 but it may, it just takes 90 days, 60 to 90 days 556 00:22:30,315 --> 00:22:31,750 to get it taken care of. 557 00:22:31,750 --> 00:22:33,018 Someone to cut the grass. 558 00:22:33,018 --> 00:22:35,053 So that whole, the neighbor right next door is looking 559 00:22:35,053 --> 00:22:36,555 at that grass growing and growing 560 00:22:36,555 --> 00:22:39,257 and why aren't you taking care of it? 561 00:22:39,257 --> 00:22:41,259 Just the time to comply. 562 00:22:41,259 --> 00:22:44,296 - And before we go back to Bill with a few minutes left here, 563 00:22:44,296 --> 00:22:46,498 if you do get ahold of 'em and they do refuse, 564 00:22:46,498 --> 00:22:48,333 I mean there's gotta be some owners out there that just say, 565 00:22:48,333 --> 00:22:49,768 "No, I'm not doing that. 566 00:22:49,768 --> 00:22:50,902 I don't have the money, whatever." 567 00:22:50,902 --> 00:22:55,540 What tools do you have to force their hand? 568 00:22:56,375 --> 00:22:58,210 - There's two different routes depending on whether 569 00:22:58,210 --> 00:23:01,413 or not the property is occupied or if it's vacant. 570 00:23:01,413 --> 00:23:03,382 If it's occupied, then we have 571 00:23:03,382 --> 00:23:05,016 to cite 'em to environmental court. 572 00:23:05,016 --> 00:23:06,518 That is the only recourse. 573 00:23:06,518 --> 00:23:08,220 If it's a vacant property 574 00:23:08,220 --> 00:23:12,190 and we worked to notify them, give 'em their time to comply 575 00:23:12,190 --> 00:23:14,226 and they don't do it, then we can cut it, 576 00:23:14,226 --> 00:23:16,628 we can assign a contractor to cut it and then bill them. 577 00:23:16,628 --> 00:23:18,930 They don't pay the bill, we place a lien on the property. 578 00:23:18,930 --> 00:23:20,165 - Okay, Bill? 579 00:23:20,165 --> 00:23:23,935 - So what do you hear from legislators? 580 00:23:23,935 --> 00:23:26,905 I mean, are you making a dent in this? 581 00:23:26,905 --> 00:23:29,374 Are people seeing your point? 582 00:23:31,643 --> 00:23:34,146 Where's it at with them? 583 00:23:34,146 --> 00:23:37,649 - Well, I think that they just, no one sees bureaucracy 584 00:23:37,649 --> 00:23:40,285 as good in any shape or form. 585 00:23:40,285 --> 00:23:41,853 That's the main pushback. 586 00:23:41,853 --> 00:23:43,855 It's like, you know what, you guys are gonna make it hard. 587 00:23:43,855 --> 00:23:46,258 You're gonna make it hard on the good landlords, 588 00:23:46,258 --> 00:23:48,560 we'll call it as good landlords, quote unquote. 589 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:50,128 And you know, they're gonna be penalized 590 00:23:50,128 --> 00:23:51,797 'cause they're the local guys doing the job 591 00:23:51,797 --> 00:23:54,666 and you're gonna make it impossible for them or you're 592 00:23:54,666 --> 00:23:56,535 gonna make it more expensive for them or harder for them. 593 00:23:56,535 --> 00:23:59,471 And I can understand that they think 594 00:23:59,471 --> 00:24:00,972 that we're inefficient. 595 00:24:00,972 --> 00:24:03,608 We're gonna, we're bureaucratic and it's gonna be complicated. 596 00:24:03,608 --> 00:24:06,211 But I say that it's not, you know, with technology, 597 00:24:06,211 --> 00:24:08,914 we have made so many improvements 598 00:24:08,914 --> 00:24:13,919 to the complexities and make it efficient so that it's easy. 599 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:17,489 Relatively, we had so many ways that we're gonna, 600 00:24:17,489 --> 00:24:18,690 you know, minimize this 601 00:24:18,690 --> 00:24:23,328 and mean make it more, you know, I think acceptable. 602 00:24:23,328 --> 00:24:25,263 But we did so much in stakeholder 603 00:24:25,263 --> 00:24:26,431 engagement throughout this. 604 00:24:26,431 --> 00:24:28,166 It wasn't like we just came up with this idea, 605 00:24:28,166 --> 00:24:29,334 we're gonna go with it. 606 00:24:29,334 --> 00:24:31,470 I spent two years engaging with local stakeholders 607 00:24:31,470 --> 00:24:33,371 'cause the program that we started with 608 00:24:33,371 --> 00:24:35,407 changed dramatically based on their inputs 609 00:24:35,407 --> 00:24:37,542 because I understood that they were like, 610 00:24:37,542 --> 00:24:39,177 oh my gosh, you're, you know, 611 00:24:39,177 --> 00:24:40,812 you're gonna make it impossible for me. 612 00:24:40,812 --> 00:24:42,948 - Right, right. 613 00:24:42,948 --> 00:24:47,252 You also have a blight task force 614 00:24:47,252 --> 00:24:50,689 or a strike team I think for several years now 615 00:24:50,689 --> 00:24:54,092 you've had that in place, maybe one or two years. 616 00:24:54,092 --> 00:24:56,328 How has that worked out? 617 00:24:56,328 --> 00:24:59,164 And we should point out that the strike team 618 00:24:59,164 --> 00:25:02,267 is kind of a more general form 619 00:25:02,267 --> 00:25:05,003 of blight than just a rental property 620 00:25:05,003 --> 00:25:07,339 that's not in good condition, right? 621 00:25:07,339 --> 00:25:10,342 This is used tires, those kind of things. 622 00:25:10,342 --> 00:25:12,544 - Yeah, illegal dumping is the huge challenge. 623 00:25:12,544 --> 00:25:13,912 It's grown quite a bit. 624 00:25:13,912 --> 00:25:17,382 It really exploded like 300% during the pandemic. 625 00:25:17,382 --> 00:25:19,985 And people were just probably sitting home, didn't know. 626 00:25:19,985 --> 00:25:22,554 They don't have to look at this stuff. 627 00:25:22,554 --> 00:25:25,624 So yeah, I created Environmental Enforcement 628 00:25:25,624 --> 00:25:26,925 who is the main group. 629 00:25:26,925 --> 00:25:29,761 We added an illegal dumping component with this last budget 630 00:25:29,761 --> 00:25:33,365 to really add more resources so they could handle all of it 631 00:25:33,365 --> 00:25:35,100 'cause it used to be a multi-divisional, 632 00:25:35,100 --> 00:25:36,568 multi-agency response. 633 00:25:36,568 --> 00:25:39,671 So we have covert cameras, we have a whole team 634 00:25:39,671 --> 00:25:42,173 that do nothing but tackle illegal dumping 635 00:25:42,173 --> 00:25:43,909 and used tires are a plague. 636 00:25:43,909 --> 00:25:45,677 I don't even know where they all come from. 637 00:25:45,677 --> 00:25:46,945 It's amazing. 638 00:25:46,945 --> 00:25:48,847 - We will, we're out of time. 639 00:25:48,847 --> 00:25:50,081 We'll leave it on that. 640 00:25:50,081 --> 00:25:51,449 I forgot to ask you about how people report potholes. 641 00:25:51,449 --> 00:25:53,251 We'll talk about that in the podcast on radio-- 642 00:25:53,251 --> 00:25:54,886 - 3-1-1. - Because it's 3-1-1 643 00:25:54,886 --> 00:25:56,855 and they can report potholes, and you guys will go fix them. 644 00:25:56,855 --> 00:25:58,390 Robert Knecht, thanks very much for being here. 645 00:25:58,390 --> 00:25:59,925 We're outta time. Thank you, Bill. 646 00:25:59,925 --> 00:26:02,494 If you missed any of the show, you can go to WKNO.org 647 00:26:02,494 --> 00:26:04,596 or The Daily Memphian site, or search for us on YouTube 648 00:26:04,596 --> 00:26:05,830 and get the full episode. 649 00:26:05,830 --> 00:26:08,099 Thanks very much and we'll see you next week. 650 00:26:08,099 --> 00:26:11,202 [intense orchestral music] 651 00:26:35,994 --> 00:26:37,996 [acoustic guitar chords]