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'It <br />,ARZEN HILLS <br />MEMORANDUM <br />DATE: March 18, 2019 <br />TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers <br />Dave Perrault, City Administrator <br />FROM: Gayle Bauman, Finance Director <br />SUBJECT: Non -Reads on Water Meters Discussion <br />Budgeted Amount: Actual Amount: <br />N/A N/A <br />Council Should Consider <br />AGENDA ITEM — 1B <br />Funding Source: <br />N/A <br />The Council should review and provide feedback on the following information regarding properties <br />where the City has had difficulty obtaining readings from water meters. <br />Background <br />The City captures meter readings on a quarterly basis in order to complete the process for issuing <br />utility bills. There always seems to be some meters where data isn't collected. Some of these issues <br />are fixed by doing a re -read, but notices are sent to the others informing the customer of the problem <br />and asking them to contact City Hall so staff can look into the matter. <br />Discussion <br />The City currently has around 10 accounts where usage has had to be estimated for at least the last <br />two quarters, with some reads being estimated since 2015. Notices have been distributed to the <br />properties, but City staff has been unable to connect with these residents and schedule a site visit <br />to assess the situation. Estimates are normally calculated off the most recent reads, but with some <br />of the last reads having been completed years ago, we are unsure how accurate those estimates <br />continue to be. The desired outcome would be for staff to access the properties to determine what <br />the problem is and make whatever fixes need to be made to allow for quarterly meter reads. <br />Staff has discussed this issue and would like to review with the Council a proposed change to our <br />fee schedule to motivate customers to work with the City to correct any problems that may exist <br />with their water meter. Staff is proposing the following: <br />For the 1St quarter where a reading cannot be obtained — use our current procedures to compute the <br />estimate. Up to the past 3 years of usage for the same quarter are reviewed to determine the <br />estimated amount. <br />Page 1 of 2 <br />