Flagstaff staff outline capital, transportation and water services updates; microtrenching fiber pilot and water‑supply figures highlighted

City engineering, transportation and water services staff briefed the City Council May 13 on staffing, active projects and pilot programs, including a citywide microtrenching pilot for fiber conduit and an update on water production and reclaimed flows.

Paul Mudd, city engineer, and division leads described the engineering team and its work. Trevor Henry, capital improvements engineer, said the capital improvements group has nine full‑time employees and currently manages about 29 active capital projects across transportation, water services and general government categories. Henry said the capital program includes project outreach web pages and weekly updates for ongoing projects.

Jeff Baumann, transportation director and traffic engineer, described a six‑person transportation group that handles planning, modeling and grant programs. He highlighted grant programs under ADOT’s Transportation Alternatives (TA) program, Safe Streets for All (SS4A) scoping for a Safe Streets master plan, Fort Valley Road multimodal improvements (application stage), and an HSIP program that has funded several roundabout and lighting safety projects. Baumann said the transportation commission, bicycle and pedestrian advisory committees remain active in plan prioritization and that the city has recently developed more internal long‑range modeling capacity.

Development engineering reported high submittal volumes. Paul Mudd said development engineering has 12 full‑time staff in that section and the city’s broader engineering group totals about 31 employees. Over the previous 12 months, staff counted roughly 19 site‑plan projects, nine subdivisions and 45 concept plans; when projects advanced to construction review, they recorded about 49 civil plan reviews, 11 plats and 294 right‑of‑way permits. Staff noted 964 housing units either complete or under construction in larger multifamily projects (15 complete, 849 under construction, consolidated total reported as 964 units).

A fiber microtrenching pilot was described as active in neighborhoods; staff said crews cut a narrow trench beside curb and gutter, install conduit and splice small connection boxes at homes. Development engineering said field staff report the microtrench method is about five times faster than conventional boring or trenching and that code amendments to allow microtrenching are under consideration if the pilot proves successful.

Water services director Lee (presenting) summarized the division’s organization and flows: about 80 total Water Services staff across six sections, including 16 staff in distribution. Seasonal potable production ranges from roughly 6,000,000 gallons per day in winter to about 11,000,000 in summer, driven largely by outdoor irrigation; reclamation plants currently process about 5,000,000 gallons per day. Lee noted awards for operational performance and described technical work by SCADA and GIS staff and a resource‑management practice that uses resistivity surveying (CSAMT) to locate groundwater prospects for wells.

Baumann and Lee also answered council queries about nonrevenue water and staffing. Lee said the city has undertaken meter testing and consultant work to verify production meter accuracy and estimated nonrevenue water in the low‑teens percentage range. Baumann said the city is tracking several federal and state grant outcomes but has received encouraging signs about grant status after recent Department of Transportation meetings in Washington, D.C.

Ending: staff said capital, transport and water items will continue to return to council as projects advance; staff pointed to city project websites and the Connect.Flagstaff portal for public project updates and said pilot results will determine whether code changes and wider rollouts proceed.