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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/26/2005 Adjourned Meeting 12.4 • CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL APRIL 26, 2005 - 7:30 A.M. - 9:00 A.M. YAKIMA CITY HALL - COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1. Roll Call • Present: Council: Mayor Paul George, presiding, Council Members Ron Bonlender, Dave Edler (after 7:55 a.m.), Mary Place, Bernard Sims, and Susan Whitman (after 7:42 a.m.) Staff: City Manager Zais; Rita Anson, Finance & Budget Director; Doug Mayor, Wastewater Manager; Dave Brown, Water & Irrigation Manager; Pete Hobbs, Customer Service Manager; Nancy Fortier, Refuse Manager; and Acting City Clerk Watkins Absent: Neil McClure (excused) 2. Study Session on proposal to modernize and update Utility Customer Service Mayor George described this effort as the result of the Council's interest in updating policies in a billing system that hasn't had an in -depth modification in twenty years. We want to build a system where the various departments communicate better and the billing is fair, sensitive to utility customers needs, and the city properly bills and legitimately receives money to which it is entitled. There was a policy issue in the budget last year allowing us to evaluate the needs for a new system. • Council Member Sims complimented the proposal and commented that the Customer Service Manager, Pete Hobbs, should handle the issues with the landlords. Rita Anson, Finance and Budget Director, noted there are five major items that requires Council policy decisions. She recommended a Council subcommittee be selected to go through those items. Council Member Place suggested reviewing the items in question now. Council reviewed II. Proposed Major Policy Changes — Summary, the Recommendations column beginning on Page 3 of the proposal: (only items discussed are listed) 2.* Utilities in Landlords' Name Option A — Require account to be in property owner's name. Council stressed the importance of letting the landlords know whom the billing is going to go to. The major reason for the suggested change is the high rate of turnover. The recommendation is to have all utilities in the landlord's name, or at the very least, for all multi -unit customers. They expect all irrigation will stay in the owner's name. It was suggested that this change be presented at a Landlord Association meeting. Another possibility, if it remained in the tenant's name, would be to include the property owner's name in any collection process. 12 5 APRIL 26, 2005 — ADJOURNED MEETING 4, Deposits - A change would be to include all utilities, we currently exclude irrigation. Council agreed. 5. Interest on deposits - We also currently pay interest on deposits. It was the consensus of Council to discontinue paying interest. Further discussion covered • the length of time deposits are held. The recommendation was to make it the same as the Washington Utilities Commission (3 months). At this point, Council Member Bonlender suggested as Council goes through this document they identify items that need further review by a subcommittee. Those items with an asterisk ( *) following the number are to be reviewed by a subcommittee (selected later in the meeting). 6. Reactivation of service after suspension. At this point the subject of credit cards arose and the recommendation was to not accept them for payment. 7. Interest on past due balance — The recommendation in the proposal is to not charge interest on past due balances because they are recommending various fees and charges instead. Council agreed with the recommendation. 8. Fees and Charges - not proposing to nickel and dime the customer to death. If you open an account, pay on time, don't tamper with the meter, and don't bounce checks, you won't get charged extra. If you want an extra level of service, (examples were given), there will be a fee. The theory is to not spread the cost of the extra service to other customers. 9. Meter /Service Tampering— Due to experiences with chronic meter tamperers, the proposal is to put on a seal, if it gets broken, charge a fee. 10. Flat Monthly Fees (including Ready -to -serve and pre treatment charges) — Council discussed ready -to -serve charges for wastewater, irrigation, refuse in detail. 11.* Delinquent Accounts and Utility Liens — Mrs. Anson explained how liens work on utilities under the Washington State Code. A lien has different meanings depending on the type of service. A lien for water provides the only means to shut off the water at that premise, and by state code, the service needs to be restored after a payment is received for four months worth of billing. It doesn't allow following up with a property lien. But, under the state regulations, property liens are allowed for delinquent sewer and refuse accounts. We have two years to follow up on the lien, basically by foreclosing. If you don't follow up and foreclose on the property, after two years the lien falls off and you no longer have a lien. The issue for Council direction is, do you want the City to pursue foreclosing on a property for a delinquent utility account. The ramification of foreclosing is taking their home away. This item was referred to the subcommittee. 2 12 6' APRIL 26, 2005 - ADJOURNED MEETING Bundling was discussed at this point. The City has four different utilities. The major incentive to pay bills is the risk of shutting off the water. If you are a customer that has more than one utility serviced by the City, when you make a payment it is applied at the City's discretion, e.g. water /refuse /wastewater. We have the authority to apply that payment to any of those utility accounts as we see fit. We chose to bundle and prorate across all utilities. We don't want the customer to come in and say they want to pay their water bill but not the rest of their utilities, as that just takes away our hammer. Council Member Place expressed dislike for shutting off someone's water for not paying for irrigation. It was her opinion that should be a separate item. Mrs. Anson explained that the underwriters for our irrigation bonds require that we have the ability to turn off domestic water in case of nonpayment for irrigation and we are locked in to those rules. Dave Brown, Water and Irrigation Manager, clarified that irrigation has to be in the property owners name, so we would not be shutting off the tenants drinking water. Mrs. Anson noted that with nonpayment of irrigation we don't have authority to lien the property, so we cut off service. Currently we have chosen not to place liens on properties. Mrs. Anson explained that the information about liens is all new legal interpretation not known prior to developing their recommendation. Therefore, it needs to be reconsidered by the subcommittee. An ad -hoc committee was appointed to review and make recommendations on the noted items. The committee members are Council Members Sims, Bonlender and Edler. 12. Irrigation/Wastewater Base: Domestic water used for Irrigation - not to be charged Wastewater - this item is acceptable and doesn't need to go to the subcommittee. 13.* Wastewater Connection Required - referred to the subcommittee. 14. Right to Access Property - City Manager Zais clarified that if there is a refusal of the right to entry you cannot enter without going through proper legal procedures. That is why the meters are generally in the right of way or an easement. It was confirmed that Items 2, 11, 13, and 16 would be reviewed by the ad hoc subcommittee. Mrs. Anson said the committee will get together to discuss the items and once they are satisfied will bring the proposal back to the full Council for final direction to prepare legal documentation to go forward. 3. Audience Comments (8:45 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.) No one came forward to speak. 3 APRIL 26, 2005 — ADJOURNED MEETING 4. Adjournment PLACE MOVED AND SIMS SECONDED TO ADJOURN TO APRIL 27, 2005 AT 4:00 P.M. FOR A SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING WITH THE BUDGET STRATEGY TEAM. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 9:05 a.m. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY 1 CO CI. /EMBER DATE I /__if 41.4 COUNCIL ME BER DATE ATTEST: 1 /(ig-tdkaa) CIAAJV 4° / ACTING CITY CLERK AUL P. GEORGE, MAYS Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. An audio and video tape of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office 4