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All

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right, it's 5 o'clock. Call the special
meeting to order.

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Would you call the role?
>> Gilmore

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» here.
>> Woodley

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» here.
>> Stone

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» here.
>> Roden

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» here.
>> Batty

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» here.
>> Mayor

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» here. And we have a quorum. Uh scheduled
business item number one, discussion,

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possible action to approve and authorize
the mayor to sign a resolution

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temporarily to suspend the 10-day past
due cut off policy for utilities for the

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month of November 2025. Temporarily
waiting past due fees, non-payment fees

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for the month of November 2025.
Um so basically this came about

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with conversation with Levi about uh
staff benefits. Um, is there anything

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from a city perspective that we could do
to kind of ease some of the pain on a

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lot of our families?
I'm not sure what the percentage is in

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town. Um, some of the things Ken and I
discussed were

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because there's several different
things. Can you wave the late fees? Can

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you wave the disconnect fees? Can you
wave disconnects? Well, if you wave the

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disconnects, you don't have the
disconnect fees to wave.

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And then do you just not charge late
fees to wave? So, there's a couple

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different ways that we could try to
tackle it

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

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hardship if they're being
>> I think it would just be across the

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board.
>> I also want to add it's not just the

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SNAP benefits. We've got a lot of
neighbors who are bigger workers who are

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also not getting paid. Not that any of
those would be would be able to utilize

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this program, but there could be one.
>> Well, has that ex escalated and stuff?

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people not paying the water bills.
>> Sure. Do you care? Who's who's the

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expert?

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» So when you ask has it escalated?
Um we send we sent what we call 48 hour

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calls two days before cuto off. So
technically cutoff should have been

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today. Um but we didn't. We can do it
tomorrow depending on the decision. So

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calls went out on Monday and we sent out
299 calls.

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» Wow. Wow.
>> Normal is about 250 to 275.

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

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of just depends. And this time of year,
it kind of gets like that anyway because

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of Christmas and you know, so I can't
really say that it's elevated. Um,

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we have talked to a couple customers
that have been concerned

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and
we're always willing to work with them.

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

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

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not of the total balance. Um, but as far
as a non-payment fee, which is

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equivalent to what you're calling a
disconnect fee, we call it a non-payment

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fee. If they have an arrangement on the
account, which basically extends their

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due date to like they say they're due on
the 5th and due today, they can't pay,

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

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arrangement in and they won't be on the
cut off list. They won't get that $45

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non-pay fee. So penalty would the the
late fee would definitely be something

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to consider. Um the cut off
um as long as they work with as long as

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they communicate with us we put
arrangements on the accounts and they

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won't be subject to cut off.
>> It's just when there's no communication

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is when we run into issues.
>> How much was the late pink shift? 10%

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» 10%
>> on that

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» of the of the current bill. So, if we
said we waved the late fees for

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November, that would wave 10% and then
if they're willing to talk to you, then

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you wouldn't do the cut off anyway,
>> right?

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» Who makes that decision?
>> What decision?

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» Whether they're going to put an
arrangement in there just like automatic

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if they call you.
>> If they call us and say, "I can't pay

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today." And we say, "When can you pay
and how much can you pay?" Um, that the

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clerks can do that. It doesn't have to
go through the billing supervisor. Yeah.

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It doesn't have to go through any of
that. Now, we also have a process that

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we call failed arrangements, which means
they told us they were going to pay on

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the 15th and didn't. Technically, we
should be going out and turning them

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off, we wouldn't do that in this
situation. Um, we we just as long as you

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tell us when you can pay, we're we're
pretty lenient on

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» just need communication.
>> We just need communication. Yeah,

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» I think it's a good idea this this um it
it has been a concern. and we've talked

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about it for the last probably two
weeks, you know, and and in house what

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we've decided is that we're going to
work with them. Um, we stopped cut offs

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and penalties during COVID and we had a
lot of accounts that snowballed. They're

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not getting a reminder to pay. They're
not getting a, you know, the threatened,

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

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built and built. I will tell you my
suggestion if you decide to not cut off

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and to wave non-pay fees and to wave
penalties is that we still send out the

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calls.
>> We still want to send a reminder that

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

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them, but we quit doing all of that and
we had accounts that we ended up getting

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

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not going to. How long was that period
of time?

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» We started
>> It was like a year, wasn't it?

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» Over a year.
>> Yeah. I mean, I could I don't know off

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hand. I know we started back in 2021 at
some point, but I don't remember what.

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

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20 or April of 2019. It actually
>> 20 20

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» that it started. So,
>> so we could look at a proposal of waving

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the 10% fee, not doing disconnects in
November, but still doing our calls as

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reminders.
>> So, we're just going to do this for one

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month basically.
>> It just be for November. Yeah.

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» Yeah. Just with Thanksgiving and
Christmas kind of approaching just to

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try to help give some relief out there.
I mean, it's even to the point um

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I've heard where food pantries are
already running out faster.

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» It's a it's a pretty crazy time we're
living in. So,

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» any any bit of relief we can provide to
somebody within our means.

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

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of PSA on this that we re we recommend
paying what you can because the problem

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that we're going to run into is you're
not paying this bill but then December's

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bill is going to come out and now you
owe double. And so again, we can do

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arrangements that let's say, you know,
things turn back around in December and

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they can pay November's bill and we
extend December's. And so, you know,

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even putting $20 on a $58 bill will
help. So that's that's kind of where

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we've been with the discussion we we had
with Porsche, the billing supervisor,

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was if they can pay 20, let's we'll
extend the rest and pay it when you can,

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you know, just to not compound the
problem.

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» Yeah, absolutely.
>> So I just just to be clear, this is for

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residential customers only,
>> correct?

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» Yeah.
>> Okay.

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» Residential customers.
Any other thoughts? Do you all like

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that? Wave the 10% disconnect. Wave the
10% late fee, no disconnects

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and uh continue to call to remind people
that that they need to be working with

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us and paying what they can.
>> Yeah, I think that's crucial. Continuing

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to call them.
>> Yeah.

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» Any other thoughts or
>> but not in a collections way. This is

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just a reminder. They're going to get a
call. It's a reminder you have this.

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

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even know. Does it say you'll be
if you get a late fee? I don't know. I

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can punitive kind of.
>> Yeah, I can change the verbiage to just

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say this is a reminder that to, you
know, pay if it has anything about late

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fee, I can take that off.
So, I think there's there's three things

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

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wave the non-payment fee,
and don't process cut offs. I don't know

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if that's is that the right way to say
that because the non-pay fee is part of

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the cut off process and that's what
actually charges the fee and then we go

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out physically and cut off. So, there's
three things that we won't be doing.

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» Cara, is there a way to tell them uh we
understand that your your November bill

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and your December bill will be put
together if if we need to if you need to

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make arrangements to pay this if we can
include that in that recording because

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they're going to have two months worth
of bills that together and that's some

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people can't pay one month, right?
>> Much less two.

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Yeah, I can I can in that call I can add
something that says

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» if you need to make arranges, please
call.

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» Yeah.
>> So, we won't expect them to

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

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across. This is like any resident
>> during Yeah. Just across the board. But

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I think as Cara said with the PSA
>> and and maybe even in the phone call,

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very encouraging. Please call us and and
make any arrangements you can. And

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

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December because we're not going to
charge in November. We're not going to

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cut off in November. But when December
comes, if we don't meet again about

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this, that's where
>> Yeah. So, so I think what we can do I'll

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I'll I can work with the verbiage on the
in the November's call, but I think the

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December's call is where we need to have
that call for an arrangement if you're

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if you're unable to make November and
December's payment, you know, due to

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» How many customers do we have? How many
bills go out?

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» About 8,000. We have about 1300 that are
commercial. So,

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» okay.
>> 40. Well, 60. I can't add. time and

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finance, but I can [laughter]

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» That's a very small percentage though
for that many water customers. Really?

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299 are getting calls this month out of
8,000 accounts.

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» That's one zone. So, we do cut offs
twice a month.

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» Okay.
>> We have zone one and zone two, which is

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pretty much north side and southside. Um
so,

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um not sure if this was north side. Um,
one usually has more than the other. I

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wouldn't necessarily double it, but so
in a in a month probably 500.

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» Okay.
>> Total.

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» Did we get all of the water meters on
electronic so you're getting that

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information immediately?
>> Not all of them. A big percentage of

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them. We had some that there were what
we call exceptions that somebody one of

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

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then we still have commercial. So, I
mean, not not doing cut offs two days

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out of a month, they should be able to
get caught up on some other things

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because that's a full day um two full
days if not more.

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» A little bit of a bright side.
>> Yeah.

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» All right. Any further discussion,
questions?

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» I'm agreed.
>> So, the uh the motion will be for a

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resolution to wave the 10% late fee,
wave the non-payment fee, and to not

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process cut offs.
I make a motion motion. Councelor

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Woodley, second counselor Batty

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would call.
>> Councelor Woodley,

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» yes.
>> Batty,

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» yes.
>> Gilmore,

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» yes.
>> Stone,

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» yes.
>> Rhoden,

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» yes.
>> Mayor,

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» yes. And the motion carries. We are
ajourned.

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» Thank you,