10-12-11 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL OCTOBER 12, 2011 there was not, and indicated that the goal in adopting this policy is not to collect a lot of money, but rather one of equity. The Administrator did not think there would be a large number of under - registering remotes. He pointed out that the amount of water usage that is billed to the City by St. Paul Water Utility and the amount of water usage the City bills to its residents is within acceptable ranges of discrepancy. The Administrator pointed out that under the policy, the City will recover some lost revenue without being punitive. Blesener asked the average water usage for a residential home. The Administrator estimated average residential usage at 20,000 gallons per quarter. The Superintendent then reported that letters will be sent to each account that has a discrepancy, informing them of the policy as well as the amount of under - registered water usage they had. These property owners will have the opportunity to have their old water meter tested if they believe the meter was not working properly. The Superintendent noted that the testing will be at the property owner's expenses ($50), which will be refunded if the test proves the meter is fast. Property owners will have the opportunity to observe the test. The Superintendent then reported that the under - registered water billing rate proposed is $2.93/1,000 gallons, which is the average of the $2.88 winter rate and $2.98 summer rate for 2011. Next the Superintendent proposed that the City purchase a Springbrook Interface Module that will allow information from the Badger software package to be downloaded to the City's utility billing software. Cost of this interface module is $3,500 to install plus additional training project management fees. The City would also be responsible for an $875 per year maintenance fee. This module is necessary to download meter readings and will benefit the City long -term by eliminating manual entry of meter readings. This will save time and improve accuracy. The Superintendent reported that the company performing meter replacements has had a lot of experience with citywide meter installations. They send out letters to property owners encouraging them to make an appointment for the installations. This makes the installer's job easier and helps to avoid cold calling. To encourage property owners to make these appointments, the installer has held drawings in other cities for free water for a quarter for those who make appointments. The Superintendent indicated that staff believes this would be beneficial to the meter replacement project and recommended that a drawing be held after the project is completed choosing 6 to 10 winners. Estimated cost of a quarter 7