[1:20] All

[1:27] right, it's 5 o'clock. Call the special meeting to order.

[1:31] Would you call the role? >> Gilmore

[1:34] » here. >> Woodley

[1:36] » here. >> Stone

[1:37] » here. >> Roden

[1:38] » here. >> Batty

[1:40] » here. >> Mayor

[1:43] » here. And we have a quorum. Uh scheduled business item number one, discussion,

[1:46] possible action to approve and authorize the mayor to sign a resolution

[1:49] temporarily to suspend the 10-day past due cut off policy for utilities for the

[1:54] month of November 2025. Temporarily waiting past due fees, non-payment fees

[1:59] for the month of November 2025. Um so basically this came about

[2:06] with conversation with Levi about uh staff benefits. Um, is there anything

[2:13] from a city perspective that we could do to kind of ease some of the pain on a

[2:16] lot of our families? I'm not sure what the percentage is in

[2:21] town. Um, some of the things Ken and I discussed were

[2:26] because there's several different things. Can you wave the late fees? Can

[2:30] you wave the disconnect fees? Can you wave disconnects? Well, if you wave the

[2:34] disconnects, you don't have the disconnect fees to wave.

[2:38] And then do you just not charge late fees to wave? So, there's a couple

[2:41] different ways that we could try to tackle it

[2:45] and [clears throat] discuss it. >> Do they uh do they need to prove

[2:49] hardship if they're being >> I think it would just be across the

[2:53] board. >> I also want to add it's not just the

[2:56] SNAP benefits. We've got a lot of neighbors who are bigger workers who are

[2:58] also not getting paid. Not that any of those would be would be able to utilize

[3:03] this program, but there could be one. >> Well, has that ex escalated and stuff?

[3:09] people not paying the water bills. >> Sure. Do you care? Who's who's the

[3:15] expert?

[3:23] » So when you ask has it escalated? Um we send we sent what we call 48 hour

[3:31] calls two days before cuto off. So technically cutoff should have been

[3:34] today. Um but we didn't. We can do it tomorrow depending on the decision. So

[3:40] calls went out on Monday and we sent out 299 calls.

[3:44] » Wow. Wow. >> Normal is about 250 to 275.

[3:49] So is it higher than normal? A little bit, but not a lot. I wouldn't It kind

[3:57] of just depends. And this time of year, it kind of gets like that anyway because

[4:01] of Christmas and you know, so I can't really say that it's elevated. Um,

[4:07] we have talked to a couple customers that have been concerned

[4:12] and we're always willing to work with them.

[4:16] I mean, most of the time they're still going to get that 10% late fee, which is

[4:22] the day after it's due, we implement a late fee. It's 10% of the current bill,

[4:27] not of the total balance. Um, but as far as a non-payment fee, which is

[4:34] equivalent to what you're calling a disconnect fee, we call it a non-payment

[4:37] fee. If they have an arrangement on the account, which basically extends their

[4:43] due date to like they say they're due on the 5th and due today, they can't pay,

[4:48] but I'm going to pay on the 15th and cut off is before then. We put an

[4:52] arrangement in and they won't be on the cut off list. They won't get that $45

[4:56] non-pay fee. So penalty would the the late fee would definitely be something

[5:02] to consider. Um the cut off um as long as they work with as long as

[5:08] they communicate with us we put arrangements on the accounts and they

[5:13] won't be subject to cut off. >> It's just when there's no communication

[5:16] is when we run into issues. >> How much was the late pink shift? 10%

[5:21] » 10% >> on that

[5:22] » of the of the current bill. So, if we said we waved the late fees for

[5:28] November, that would wave 10% and then if they're willing to talk to you, then

[5:32] you wouldn't do the cut off anyway, >> right?

[5:35] » Who makes that decision? >> What decision?

[5:37] » Whether they're going to put an arrangement in there just like automatic

[5:40] if they call you. >> If they call us and say, "I can't pay

[5:43] today." And we say, "When can you pay and how much can you pay?" Um, that the

[5:49] clerks can do that. It doesn't have to go through the billing supervisor. Yeah.

[5:53] It doesn't have to go through any of that. Now, we also have a process that

[5:56] we call failed arrangements, which means they told us they were going to pay on

[6:00] the 15th and didn't. Technically, we should be going out and turning them

[6:04] off, we wouldn't do that in this situation. Um, we we just as long as you

[6:10] tell us when you can pay, we're we're pretty lenient on

[6:15] » just need communication. >> We just need communication. Yeah,

[6:19] » I think it's a good idea this this um it it has been a concern. and we've talked

[6:24] about it for the last probably two weeks, you know, and and in house what

[6:29] we've decided is that we're going to work with them. Um, we stopped cut offs

[6:33] and penalties during COVID and we had a lot of accounts that snowballed. They're

[6:41] not getting a reminder to pay. They're not getting a, you know, the threatened,

[6:47] I should say, to be cut off. So, we had a lot of accounts that just built and

[6:52] built and built. I will tell you my suggestion if you decide to not cut off

[6:57] and to wave non-pay fees and to wave penalties is that we still send out the

[7:01] calls. >> We still want to send a reminder that

[7:04] you owe this. Um I'm not sure about the cuto off calls since we won't be doing

[7:10] them, but we quit doing all of that and we had accounts that we ended up getting

[7:15] stuck with. So it was kind of like well nobody's telling me I need to pay so I'm

[7:20] not going to. How long was that period of time?

[7:24] » We started >> It was like a year, wasn't it?

[7:28] » Over a year. >> Yeah. I mean, I could I don't know off

[7:31] hand. I know we started back in 2021 at some point, but I don't remember what.

[7:36] » No reminder, no cut off at that point. >> You're not doing anything that March of

[7:41] 20 or April of 2019. It actually >> 20 20

[7:46] » that it started. So, >> so we could look at a proposal of waving

[7:51] the 10% fee, not doing disconnects in November, but still doing our calls as

[7:57] reminders. >> So, we're just going to do this for one

[8:01] month basically. >> It just be for November. Yeah.

[8:05] » Yeah. Just with Thanksgiving and Christmas kind of approaching just to

[8:08] try to help give some relief out there. I mean, it's even to the point um

[8:15] I've heard where food pantries are already running out faster.

[8:20] » It's a it's a pretty crazy time we're living in. So,

[8:24] » any any bit of relief we can provide to somebody within our means.

[8:30] » Yeah, absolutely. Well, and I would say too if we're going to put out any kind

[8:34] of PSA on this that we re we recommend paying what you can because the problem

[8:40] that we're going to run into is you're not paying this bill but then December's

[8:45] bill is going to come out and now you owe double. And so again, we can do

[8:49] arrangements that let's say, you know, things turn back around in December and

[8:54] they can pay November's bill and we extend December's. And so, you know,

[8:59] even putting $20 on a $58 bill will help. So that's that's kind of where

[9:04] we've been with the discussion we we had with Porsche, the billing supervisor,

[9:08] was if they can pay 20, let's we'll extend the rest and pay it when you can,

[9:14] you know, just to not compound the problem.

[9:19] » Yeah, absolutely. >> So I just just to be clear, this is for

[9:22] residential customers only, >> correct?

[9:25] » Yeah. >> Okay.

[9:27] » Residential customers. Any other thoughts? Do you all like

[9:31] that? Wave the 10% disconnect. Wave the 10% late fee, no disconnects

[9:37] and uh continue to call to remind people that that they need to be working with

[9:41] us and paying what they can. >> Yeah, I think that's crucial. Continuing

[9:44] to call them. >> Yeah.

[9:47] » Any other thoughts or >> but not in a collections way. This is

[9:50] just a reminder. They're going to get a call. It's a reminder you have this.

[9:53] » We can change the verbiage because it's a it's an automated message. Um, I don't

[9:59] even know. Does it say you'll be if you get a late fee? I don't know. I

[10:04] can punitive kind of. >> Yeah, I can change the verbiage to just

[10:08] say this is a reminder that to, you know, pay if it has anything about late

[10:12] fee, I can take that off. So, I think there's there's three things

[10:18] that I want to make sure if when you make a motion that wave the 10% penalty,

[10:24] wave the non-payment fee, and don't process cut offs. I don't know

[10:32] if that's is that the right way to say that because the non-pay fee is part of

[10:38] the cut off process and that's what actually charges the fee and then we go

[10:42] out physically and cut off. So, there's three things that we won't be doing.

[10:48] » Cara, is there a way to tell them uh we understand that your your November bill

[10:54] and your December bill will be put together if if we need to if you need to

[10:58] make arrangements to pay this if we can include that in that recording because

[11:03] they're going to have two months worth of bills that together and that's some

[11:06] people can't pay one month, right? >> Much less two.

[11:09] Yeah, I can I can in that call I can add something that says

[11:15] » if you need to make arranges, please call.

[11:17] » Yeah. >> So, we won't expect them to

[11:20] [clears throat] make contact with you though. This is just going to be blanket

[11:22] across. This is like any resident >> during Yeah. Just across the board. But

[11:27] I think as Cara said with the PSA >> and and maybe even in the phone call,

[11:33] very encouraging. Please call us and and make any arrangements you can. And

[11:39] » you probably don't want 299 phone calls. >> Well, and I think that the issue will be

[11:44] December because we're not going to charge in November. We're not going to

[11:48] cut off in November. But when December comes, if we don't meet again about

[11:53] this, that's where >> Yeah. So, so I think what we can do I'll

[11:58] I'll I can work with the verbiage on the in the November's call, but I think the

[12:03] December's call is where we need to have that call for an arrangement if you're

[12:08] if you're unable to make November and December's payment, you know, due to

[12:12] » How many customers do we have? How many bills go out?

[12:15] » About 8,000. We have about 1300 that are commercial. So,

[12:20] » okay. >> 40. Well, 60. I can't add. time and

[12:25] finance, but I can [laughter]

[12:30] » That's a very small percentage though for that many water customers. Really?

[12:35] 299 are getting calls this month out of 8,000 accounts.

[12:39] » That's one zone. So, we do cut offs twice a month.

[12:42] » Okay. >> We have zone one and zone two, which is

[12:45] pretty much north side and southside. Um so,

[12:50] um not sure if this was north side. Um, one usually has more than the other. I

[12:56] wouldn't necessarily double it, but so in a in a month probably 500.

[13:00] » Okay. >> Total.

[13:03] » Did we get all of the water meters on electronic so you're getting that

[13:06] information immediately? >> Not all of them. A big percentage of

[13:10] them. We had some that there were what we call exceptions that somebody one of

[13:14] us has to go out it's in concrete or there was a reason that we couldn't and

[13:18] then we still have commercial. So, I mean, not not doing cut offs two days

[13:24] out of a month, they should be able to get caught up on some other things

[13:27] because that's a full day um two full days if not more.

[13:31] » A little bit of a bright side. >> Yeah.

[13:33] » All right. Any further discussion, questions?

[13:37] » I'm agreed. >> So, the uh the motion will be for a

[13:41] resolution to wave the 10% late fee, wave the non-payment fee, and to not

[13:47] process cut offs. I make a motion motion. Councelor

[13:52] Woodley, second counselor Batty

[13:57] would call. >> Councelor Woodley,

[14:01] » yes. >> Batty,

[14:02] » yes. >> Gilmore,

[14:03] » yes. >> Stone,

[14:04] » yes. >> Rhoden,

[14:05] » yes. >> Mayor,

[14:06] » yes. And the motion carries. We are ajourned.

[14:08] » Thank you,

New - Special Council Meeting, November 5th, 2025

Transcript