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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,January 27, 2014 Page 29 sources were made available to do so. Mr. Miller reiterated that this situation was an unusual circumstance, and could not recollect another situation where the land- lord was surprised by a large bill outstanding from several years ago. Mayor Roe questioned if that data wasn't already obtainable from Ramsey Coun- ty Property Records and Revenue, and whether that information would have been easy to find out and determine; and if not part of current procedure should be in the future. Finance Director Miller advised that staff did use that data when certifying delin- quent bills; and that is how they accessed UV Color in 2009 and beyond. Howev- er, in addressing Mayor Roe's concerns in how further communication was at- tempted with the account holders and procedures followed, Mr. Miller reminded Councilmembers that that today's procedures had been revised and were different than those followed in 2009 when the bankruptcy was filed, and certifications were only processed annually in October. Mr. Miller noted that now the certifica- tions are done quarterly, negating such a probable situation occurring again. At the request of Mayor Roe, Mr. Miller advised that the account holder is well aware of any delinquent bills, even before certification, as a 10% penalty was ap- plied to unpaid bills on their next quarterly billing. Mayor Roe questioned if, during the time the delinquency is in place, any attempt was made to notify the account holder or owner. Finance Director Miller advised that there were hundred brought forward every quarter to the City Council, including many residential properties that also had tenants as well. Mr. Miller advised that staff was responsive to the level of awareness the City Council wanted to bring to property owners; noting that prop- erty owners were ultimately responsible for charges, per City Code, and thus staff had a limited role in alerting property owners that their tenants were delinquent; with current code putting the onus on owners versus City staff. At the request of Councilmember Willmus, Mr. Miller advised that the City typi- cally didn't pull meters when accounts were found delinquent, as that created ad- ditional costs (e.g. pulling and/or reinstalling the meter), as well as winter heating rules and avoiding issues regarding that. Mr. Miller advised that this is the ra- tionale in using the certification process to collect those debts. Councilmember McGehee opined that, given the number of multi-tenant apart- ment buildings in the City, there should be no water shut offs due to the landlord creating an LLC; and she was not advocating that such a process be used. Recog- nizing that this was an unfortunate set of circumstances, over which the City had no control per its own code, Councilmember McGehee noted that any waiver or deal meant other residents would have to pick up the slack. As an owner of rental