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REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Date: January 11, 2016 Item No.: 11.a Department Approval City Manager Approval Item Description: National League of Cities Sewer and Water Line Warranty Program B ACKGROUND 1 Over the past several months the City Council and the Public Works, Environment and 2 Transportation Commission (PWETC) have had discussions regarding the ownership and 3 maintenance of private service lines for sanitary and water. The PWETC has had detailed 4 conversations at their meetings since September regarding this item. Several times the question of 5 the availability of an insurance program for these services has been raised. 6 Staff has done some research and in November brought forward to the PWETC a program promoted 7 through the National League of Cities and administered by Utility Service Partners, Inc. d/b/a 8 Service Line Warranties of America. This program offers residents an opportunity to provide a 9 “warranty” program for either or both their water and sanitary sewer service line and pays for the 10 repair of the line in the event of a failure. 11 From the National League of Cities website: 12 “The NLC Service Line Warranty Program, administered by Utility Service Partners, Inc. (USP), is 13 an affordable home protection solution that helps your residents save thousands of dollars on the 14 high cost of repairing broken or leaking water or sewer lines. 15 The NLC Service Line Warranty Program gives your residents who have not set aside money to pay 16 for an unexpected, expensive utility line repair the opportunity to obtain a low cost warranty that 17 will provide repairs for a low monthly fee, with no deductibles or service fees. The work is 18 performed by licensed, local plumbers who will call the customer within one hour of filing a claim. 19 The repair is performed professionally and quickly, typically within 24 hours. USP provides a 20 personally staffed 24/7 repair hotline for residents, 365 days a year. 21 There is no cost to your city to participate in the program. PLUS, your city receives a share of the 22 revenues collected! Implementation is easy and USP provides all of the required services.” 23 In order to offer this program to our residents, the City would enter into a Marketing License 24 Agreement. A draft of this agreement is included as Attachment A. 25 Also attached are examples of the Home Service Contracts water, sewer and internal plumbing, 26 which is another option available to our residents. 27 Several Minnesota Cities offer this program to their residents including Oak Park Heights and St. 28 Louis Park. Attached is a snapshot of a survey of residents that had claims in the City of St Louis 29 Park between May 1, 2013 and May 1, 2015. OF the 206 total claims in that timeframe, 45 residents 30 completed the survey. 41 of those claims indicated they would recommend this program to others. 31 Page 1 of 2