[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,