Kansas City Council Business Session - October 6, 2022
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Kansas City Council Business Session - October 6, 2022
The Kansas City Council held a business session on October 6, 2022, at 8:15 PM. The meeting began with the approval of minutes from the previous session on September 29, 2022, followed by a presentation from the City Auditor on the scope of an audit of water services customer service. The council then moved into closed session to discuss legal matters.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The council unanimously approved the minutes from the business session of September 29, 2022. A motion was made and seconded, and all members present voted aye.
Discussion Items
- High Water Usage Scope Statement (City Auditor): City Auditor Doug Jones presented the scope statement for an audit of water services customer service. He explained that unexpected large increases in water consumption may indicate changes in customer behavior, meter failures, or problems with fixtures. The audit objective is to determine whether the Water Services Department provides adequate resources to customers to address unexpected high water use. The audit will involve interviews, review of policies and training materials, and analysis of customer service calls. The anticipated release date is February 2023. Councilmember McMahon asked whether water services now uses the city's centralized HR hiring process, but the auditor noted that the audit does not cover hiring practices. No other questions were raised.
Key Outcomes
- Closed Session Motion: The council voted to go into closed session under Missouri Revised Statute Section 610.021(1) for discussion of legal matters, litigation, and privileged communications with attorneys. The motion was made, seconded, and passed unanimously on a roll call vote (all present members voted aye). The session was to be held on the tenth floor.
Meeting Transcript
We got numbers. Yeah, perfect. Welcome to business session. Our first item is approval of minutes from business session of September 29th, 2022. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. It's been moved and second. All in favor and uh of approving said minutes, say aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed. The motion passes. High water usage scope statement from the people's auditor. Brother Doug. There we go. Good afternoon, Mayor Lucas. Members of City Council, City Manager Plant, Doug Jones, City Auditor. I'm here to present the scope statement for our water services customer service audit. My presentation will outline why we are doing the audit, the audit objective, the work we're going to perform, and the anticipated release date. You should have copies of the presentation slides as well as the scope statement itself. An unexpected large increase in water consumption may signal a change in customer behavior, a failure in water meter or problem with service lines, outdoor irrigation systems, or household fixtures like toilets and faucets. The water services department has customer service representatives available in person, by phone, or online to answer questions from customers about water use and bills. When customers receive a bill or notice about an unusually high water use, they frequently rely on the department's customer service representatives and online resources to help them understand the reasons for the increase, make a change in how they use water, and identify a broken water system or household fixture that needs to be repaired. Some water customers have complained about the assistance they receive from water services related to unexpected high water use. The department has made significant investment in customer services over the past several years. When customer services experience high water unexpected high water use, it is important to know whether customer service resources meet the customers' needs and whether those there are areas for improvement within those processes and resources. So our audit objective is to determine whether the water services department provides resources to customers to address unexpected high water use. To address the objective, we will interview water services department staff, review policies, procedures, and training materials to identify customer service goals and requirements. We'll also review documentation of high water use notifications and online materials and listen to customer service calls to understand the department's customer service resources. We will compare goals and requirements to the delivery of customer service resources. We plan to issue this audit in February of 2023. And there concludes my lightning round of a presentation. Questions for the city auditor. Thank you. All right. I have a while we're at. We talked about um talked about hiring practices last week. I was wondering, because I think now water it do they now go through the city government process for hiring. Uh likely they're using the HR department. I don't know offhand. I think that's been a change that they are you know more centralizing HR functions. I think that's been a desire and something I've heard talked about, but we're not actually looking at the hiring practices themselves. Any other questions? All right, hearing none, thank you. The city attorneys indicated that there are a few potential legal matters to discuss for us today, and so those would be relevant for a closed session. It would likely be section one of Rismo 610-021. Uh Honorable Mayor, I move that we look go into closed session, present to Missouri Revised Statute Section 610.0211 for the purposes of discussion of legal matters, litigation, privilege, communications with attorneys. Second. It's been moved and seconded.
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