Environment Committee Meeting - August 2, 2018: Water Billing Audits and Consent Items
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Environment Committee Meeting - August 2, 2018: Water Billing Audits and Consent Items
The Environment Committee met on August 2, 2018 with Councilmembers Gomez and Sherman present; Councilmember Kate was absent. The committee approved the previous meeting's minutes by unanimous consent, addressed consent agenda items (pulling three of four for discussion), heard public comment, and received two detailed presentations on water billing operations—a performance audit by the City Auditor and an operational assessment by West Monroe—followed by committee questions and commitments from the new Deputy COO.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes of July 21, 2018: Approved unanimously.
- Consent Agenda: Councilmember Gomez pulled items two, three, and four, leaving only item one on the consent calendar. Item one was moved and passed unanimously.
- Items Two and Three: Moved together with a request that staff communicate to the city council once the $200,000 threshold is reached. Motion by Ms. Gomez, second by Mr. Sherman. Passed unanimously.
- Item Four: Also moved with the same request (communication at $200,000 threshold). Seconded by Mr. Sherman. Passed unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Martha Welch spoke about water billing changes, claiming the city did not inform residents properly. She criticized the lack of smart meter deployment (only 2% smart readers), alleged foot‑dragging by the city, and referenced former official Bill Horn. She urged honesty and transparency.
Discussion Items
- Item 6 – City Auditor’s Performance Audit of PUD Water Billing Operations: Audrey from the City Auditor’s office presented findings of systemic issues in water billing, including inadequate controls, high error rates, and lack of performance metrics. Ten recommendations were made, all agreed to by the department.
- Item 7 – PUD’s Operational Assessment of Customer Water Billing (West Monroe): Johnny Perkins, new Deputy COO for Infrastructure and Public Works, presented the operational assessment. He acknowledged past failures, committed to implementing all recommendations (80% by end of 2019, 100% by mid‑2020), and emphasized cultural change, accountability, and transparency. Specific discussion topics included the “band” for flagged meter readings, smart meter deployment (targeted for 2020), and whether the previous statement calling the problem “isolated and limited in scope” was accurate. Councilmember Gomez questioned the isolated‑incident claim, citing complaints from across the city. Mr. Perkins stated that such a statement was unacceptable and had been addressed.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Items: All four consent items (initially five, but three were pulled for separate votes) were approved unanimously with the additional communication requirement at $200,000.
- Audit Recommendations: Both the City Auditor’s and West Monroe’s recommendations were accepted. The department committed to full implementation within the stated timelines.
- Commitment to Transparency: Mr. Perkins assured the committee that future communications would be accurate, timely, and transparent, and that a culture of accountability would be established in the Public Utilities Department.
- Next Steps: The committee noted that the matter would proceed to the full City Council for further action. A short recess was taken before the final agenda item (Item 5 – proposal from Councilmember Kate), which was not discussed due to time.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome and thank you for being here. I'll call the August 2nd 2018 Environment Committee meeting to order. We have Councilmembers Gomez and Sherman present. Councilmember Kate will be absent today. And we wish him and his wife well as we start the meeting. But first of all, in order to uh move forward, we need to approve the record of action items for our previous meeting, July 21st, 2018. Unless there's any questions or changes, I'll be approved by unanimous consent. All right. Thank you. This is a chance to speak on items not on the agenda. We have one speaker, Martha Welch, who would like to speak. Ms. Welch, welcome. You will have two minutes. Martha Welch. The county closed their dump and no putting they didn't plan anything. So whether um they didn't plan anything. Well well, all I do uh all the time. City bound. The reader said um it smells like um meat. And also is a mountain. Also, right now the pump station tube is built 1908. Also point same thing. Also clear 50 years. And that's not right. Why you do this? You don't care about the ocean or anything like that. Now the county posts have sewer pipe, they don't have that. And um, doesn't it sometimes a sewer plane, and maybe it's not you do here. Now, right now the federal count um and the government um and the state looks here. They're not afraid anymore. They look in they and then they report to this uh to state and federal law now because that's what's going on. They they know what's going on because there's um it's changing right now. The federal account is right here now, and also the states here right now, and and it's changing right now because I've FBI that looking at you right now, but you do also because you um all these are so old, there's about to be a question. Why did you do what I said clear water? I still three times at least build it three times in the council, and you didn't build it because you can't build it three times. So that's what goes on in this city right now. And it's wrong what you do here, and it's gonna come out because right now there's also a federal case, um, two cases in the federal credit by the supervisor and Bill Horn. And it's gonna happen. And uh and and it's not as and it's gonna happen because this is wrong what's going on here, and it's very wrong. And I'm not afraid to tell you what you did also because you don't do the right thing. You don't have workers, you have you uh you lie all the time, the staff lies to you, you don't question, you don't look. No one looks at anything in this county or the city. You don't look, you're afraid to look. Well, if what sometimes you've got the look of what you did here, thank you. That is the end of our non-agenda public comment. So we will go on to committee comment. I know I had been signaling to my uh colleagues here in this committee that we were gonna have a pretty extensive agenda for today. That was the plan.
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