Coming back promptly.

So we're going to begin or move on with our final item of the day.

This is item number five.

Proposed utility department amendments.

And the issue of normal of abnormally high water bills and meter re misreads surfaced earlier this year.

The committee has been pretty vocal and united in advocating on behalf of residents and our customers to identify the source of the problem.

We've all received reports from our constituents regarding the inaccurate and high water bills.

However, Councilmember Kate's district was particularly impacted and we know he's taking a very much high interest in this topic.

As such, he uh put forward amendments and recommendations to begin addressing some of the problems here in this issue, and I'm happy to document that for discussion.

We have a memorandum dated uh May 21st that Councilmember Kate submitted to Vic Mianes, the director of public utilities department.

Um that really sets the stage for today.

And um I know that he uh wishes he could be here, and we obviously had planned for that.

Uh but uh he and his wife Maria are celebrating the arrival of their daughter this past Tuesday.

Again, we congratulate him.

If you're allowed to give us the name of the baby, we'd love to know, but if you can't, then it's okay too.

Um it's uh I can sell it if you want to.

I know uh I know what it's like to have a child than being in the middle of uh city council, so uh my best wishes to him and and most importantly to his wife.

Um with that, we have his deputy chief of staff and policy director, Ian Clampett, who's gonna do the presentation on behalf of the council member.

Ian welcome.

How much time do you need for your presentation?

No more than 10 minutes.

All right, we'll give you 10 minutes.

Welcome.

Go ahead.

Thank you for that introduction, Chair Alvarez, honorable committee members.

It's a pleasure to be with you here this afternoon to discuss our proposed uh public utility department uh amendments.

Uh this issue first rose to the attention of our office in early 2015 2018 when district six residents began to call our office with reports of abnormally high water bills, uh, some of which were 400 percent above the previous billing cycle.

It became known that nearly uh 350 meters were uh misread across multiple San Diego neighborhoods.

Of these misreads, uh, 70 percent were located in District 6.

That prompted our office to host a high water bill forum in Mira Mesa to give uh customers the opportunity, uh not just from District 6, but citywide to interact with our public utilities department, customer service representatives uh directly and have their complaints resolved.

Hundreds of residents attended the forum, like I said, not just from District 6, but across the city.

And in the weeks after our the forum, uh we continue to receive calls from District 6 residents and residents across the city.

And uh Chair Alvarez alluded to that point earlier that this was truly a citywide issue.

Over 130 customers from District 6 have contacted our office since the inception of this issue.

In addition to the need to address the high water bill issue, since the last rate case, our office has believed that the city council and mayor must have a more transparent and financially accountable public utilities department.

We believe that there is a need for more frequent financial reviews to help city leadership better understand and project the operational and capital expenditures of the department, particularly in light of changing weather patterns, longer dry spells, and the prospect of perpetual drought.

Furthermore, given the size of the department, approximately 1,600 employees and billion-dollar operating budget, more tools are needed to help better manage this department.

Currently, detailed financial reviews and projections are only shown to city leadership within the context of proposed rate increases about every five years or so and midway through those rate increases through the review of funds.

Therefore, that brings us to our recommended council policy amendment to Council Policy 000-02, otherwise known as the city's budget policy.

One of the key uh key provisions of this policy is the preparation of a multi-year financial outlook.

And this outlook is mandated by Charter Section 69.

Right now, the budget policy and the charter reference only general fund departments within the context of the outlook.

So our office is recommending the budget policy be amended to include the public utilities department within the preparation of the annual five-year financial outlook.

And public utilities department is in agreement with this change, and they've committed to working with financial management to implement this change.

And that brings us to our proposed municipal code amendment.

Until the water meter mishap, many PUD customers were not aware that the department utilizes estimations when meters cannot be read due to a damage, obstructed, or inaccessible meter box.

The department does indicate on customer bills if a meter has been read.

However, office believes that this is not sufficient notification given many customers utilize auto bill pay and are most likely not reviewing their bills on a bi-monthly basis.

Furthermore, the performance audit found significant internal process issues where damaged meters are not repaired or replaced for multiple billing cycles, thus continuing the issuance of inaccurate bills, unbeknownst to customers.

So our office recommends a change to municipal code section 67.0222 be amended to include language mandating that if meters are estimated, the department must provide written notice to customers prior to the issuance of the next bill.

We believe this notification requirement will help the department better target and address problematic meters while ensuring better communication with our customers.

Since we do understand that some meters may be difficult to access due to their location or deteriorated condition, we recommend incorporating municipal code language that mandates all meters be read to the extent feasible.

And the department is in agreement with this municipal code change.

The following slides are not slated for action today, nor do they require it, but these are uh recommendations that Councilman Kate put forward in his memo, and these are for the uh committee's information.

So during the meter misread issue became known to our office that PUD's customer service operations are in great need of improvement.

As the performance audit highlighted, customers calling to complain about their high water bills were given reasons that put the blame back on them, were placed on hold, or never received a call back.

Therefore, our office recommends that the department identify $500,000 within its own budget in its current budget to procure a customer service consultant that will help revamp its customer service operations by providing training to management, establish rewards and incentive program for high performing employees, and identify best practices and mirror those practices in other industries.

PUD has agreed and is our hope to see a contract brought forward by the end of this calendar year.

The following are recommended key performance indicators that we would like to see incorporated within the department's annual budget.

For the FY19 budget, PUD has identified 10 KPIs, but only one measures performance with regard to customer interaction.