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34 <br />35 Mr. Freihammer explained what sewer televising is and how the City uses the <br />36 information to find potential problems. <br />37 <br />38 Vice Chair Mueller wanted to highlight in the sustainability update there are a few <br />39 things regarding opportunities with the County and Met Transit. <br />40 <br />41 5. Utility Rates <br />42 Public Works Director Jesse Freihammer presented the 2024 proposed utility rates <br />43 and asked for feedback or a formal recommendation to the City Council. <br />44 <br />45 Member Fergus asked if the City gets many complaints about utility rates and the <br />46 residents' costs. <br />47 <br />48 Mr. Freihammer explained the Finance Department does get some but there are <br />49 ways that the residents can control the costs. He reviewed some of the ways to <br />50 reduce costs. <br />51 <br />52 Member Fergus understood that the City needs to get some money in reserves for <br />53 the storm drain but he did not know if it made sense to do five percent per year <br />54 instead of thirty-three percent now and two and a half percent later. <br />55 <br />56 Mr. Freihammer re ed the discussion from last year and the reason for the <br />57 increase. <br />58 <br />59 Vice Chair Mueller asked if staff had any information available from 2022 about <br />60 what the average cost per year was coming into 2023. She was thinking about what <br />61 people are spending and how it keeps stacking up year after year and how <br />62 everybody is spending more on everything. She understood the City needs to build <br />63 its reserves, but she was trying to get a gut check for what the average family is <br />64 having to foot the bill for on top of this. <br />65 <br />66 Mr. Freihammer indicated the City has that historic data and he could get it for the <br />67 Commission, but he did not have it at the meeting. <br />68 <br />69 Member Hodder asked if Ehlers revisited the class rates as far as residential, <br />70 apartments, commercial usage, and effect on the system. <br />71 <br />72 Mr. Freihammer explained when Ehlers did the last major study the City revamped <br />73 how it charged the rates between commercial and residential and the tiers were also <br />74 changed. He reviewed the current tiers in residential and commercial. <br />75 <br />76 Member Luongo arrived at 6:55 p.m. <br />77 <br />78 Member Hodder indicated when he looked at the rates and information for <br />79 commercial versus residential, he thought the commercial could bear a little more <br />Page 2 of 5 <br />Page 4 of 348 <br />