Utilities Rate Advisory Commission Meeting - March 27, 2013
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Utilities Rate Advisory Commission Meeting - March 27, 2013
The Utilities Rate Advisory Commission met on March 27, 2013, at 5:30 p.m. in the New City Hall Council Chamber. The meeting covered approval of prior minutes, an update on the Department of Utilities Accountability Plan, and commission discussion on communicating past recommendations to the City Council. Attendance was four members present; a discrepancy exists between the minutes (which list Scott Brown as absent) and the transcript (which indicates he was present).
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes for February 6, 2013: The initial motion to approve the minutes failed due to a lack of a second. Commissioner Steven Archibald then moved to amend the minutes to reflect the commission's action of dividing the rate approval votes into separate motions and to include the rationale for those actions. The motion passed 4-0-1 (Douglas Brown abstained). Staff will bring back amended minutes at the next meeting.
Discussion Items
- Department of Utilities Accountability Plan Update: Director Dave Brent presented the quarterly update. Key topics included:
- A strategic plan reorganization and emphasis on security and emergency preparedness.
- Utility Rate Assistance Program: Launched in February 2013, targeting households at or below 100% of the federal poverty level. As of the meeting, 188 applications were approved out of over 1,000 received, with about 859 denied (mostly due to income exceeding the threshold). Commissioners expressed concern about low participation and suggested possibly raising the threshold to 150% or 200% of poverty level in the future.
- Capital Improvement Program: Water bonds were sold at a 3.85% interest rate for 30 years, with $240 million in proceeds. The water treatment plant construction bid came in at $114 million, well below the $144 million estimate. A dashboard for tracking project progress will be added to the city's website. Commissioners also discussed the status of water meter installation (about 40% complete) and the potential for conservation data.
Key Outcomes
- Minutes Amendment: The commission approved a motion to amend the February 6, 2013 minutes to include details of the rate vote splitting and rationale, with staff to return amended minutes at the next meeting.
- Next Meeting: The commission agreed to hold the next quarterly meeting in June 2013.
- City Council Communication: Commissioners discussed how to convey their past recommendations to the City Council for the April 18, 2013 meeting. They decided that individual commissioners could speak at the council meeting and that Commissioner Archibald would attempt to have additional context included in the staff report.
Public Comments
- No public comments were made.
Commission Ideas, Questions, and Announcements
- The commission discussed the need to reflect its February 6, 2013 discussion on solid waste, recycling, and green waste rates in the staff report going to the City Council on April 18, 2013. Commissioners emphasized the importance of accurately representing the commission's actions and rationale.
Meeting Transcript
This is the March 27th meeting of the Utility Rate Advisory Commission. And Patrick, can you take the role? Christopher Butcher. Kevin Schubert. Douglas Brown. Here. Stephen Archibald. Here. Karen McBride. Scott Brown. Here. Carolynville Hunter. And one quick announcement, please. This meeting has been video screened. It can be viewed on the city's website or viewed later from the archive files. Please silence all cell phones and mobile devices. If you wish to speak tonight, please complete a speaker slip located at the back of the room and return it to me at any time. And should you need assistance with listing devices, they are available from me upon request. Thank you, Patrick. All right. We're going to jump into the consent calendar and we have approval of the minutes. Do we have a motion to approve the minutes? Motion to approve the minutes. Okay. Yes. And the minutes don't really reflect that. So I was just wondering if uh the staff report when the city looked at or when they look at it, I'm not sure has it even happened yet, so I was curious about an update on that as well. Will the staff report reflect the discussion we had? Because I think these minutes in and of themselves probably won't provide much guidance to the city council. Sorry, haven't been here for a while. The staff report includes an attachment, if I'm not mistaken, right, Aaron? That describes the commission action. And I can't off the top of my head, I don't recall how much more detailed it is than this. There's also video anybody could watch of the meeting if they wanted more detail. Okay. So did that meeting already occur? Uh I don't I think it's scheduled for the 18th. April 18th, I think. I'm putting on my reflections on that one now. Uh it is scheduled for April 18th. Uh so the staff report will go um 10 days, I think 72 hours ahead uh it will be posted. But yeah, the entire meeting in and of itself is already posted online, as well as the the agenda associated with it. So um I may be taking a leap here, but I imagine the city council won't be watching the hearing. So I was just hoping that we're gonna be able to do that. Oh, you'd be surprised we've had a couple calls. Okay. So is there any way that we or I could take a look at the staff report and if possible suggests maybe things to add to it? When it's posted, you can certainly um take a look at it at that time and then as uh commissioner if you want to um send a letter or come to the meeting that night and make a statement, you can you can do that as well. So that's that's your opportunity to to add to whatever is already in the staff report. Okay.
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