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<br />Staff met with representatives from US Bank on Friday regarding options that may be <br />available to further automate payment processing. If the council directs staff to continue <br />investigating these options, staff would suggest a formal RFP/Quote process. <br /> <br />Residents currently receive a quarterly statement for water/sewer services. Council <br />expressed interest in a monthly billing in order to better serve the customer. Staff spent <br />some time researching options that would be available in order to provide residents with <br />more timely usage information. We feel that there are certainly options available to <br />accommodate this interest; however, a change in the billing period wouldn’t necessarily <br />be required. <br /> <br />Staff met with City of Shoreview staff to learn about the “Know Your Flow” water <br />conservation program implemented in 2016 utilizing WaterSmart. Customers receive <br />periodic reports or can access information via a customer portal. In order to <br />accommodate the needs of the program, Shoreview changed from a quarterly read/bill <br />schedule to a monthly read/quarterly bill schedule. Monthly readings are populated in the <br />WaterSmart software and are utilized to compare a customer’s usage against their peer <br />group and provide water conservation advice. <br /> <br />In order to understand how we might accommodate such a program, staff also met with <br />representatives from our current water meter supplier. Water meter reads are currently <br />obtained via radio read technology. One-third of customer accounts are read each month. <br />In order to facilitate the needs of a water conservation program, the ability to collect and <br />analyze reads more frequently then quarterly will be necessary. Staff obtained some <br />preliminary information regarding the modifications to our current system that would be <br />needed (i.e. FixedNet Stations, FlexNet Communication, MXU Change-Out, etc.) Again, <br />if council directs staff to continue investigating these options, staff would suggest a <br />formal RFP/Quote process. <br /> <br />Staff is prepared to discuss these findings and how they may impact the Accounting <br />Clerk/Utility Billing role at the work session. <br /> <br />Attachments <br /> <br />April 9, 2018 Staff Report <br /> <br />Requested Council Direction <br /> <br />Staff is seeking approval to move forward with filling the Accounting Clerk/Utility <br />Billing position. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />