In 30 seconds
- The recording begins mid-meeting during an invoice discussion, with no opening roll call captured on this video.
- $615, $6,400, $2,200, and $11,100 are the leak-repair invoices to contractors Fluker, Quattlebaum, and Crawford that the council ratified after the work was already done, as emergency water-leak repairs.
- $25.47 to $48 in one month is what one resident's 1,000-gallon bill did under the new rates, and a council member cited a separate bill that doubled from $20 to $40.
- $31,118 is the median-household-income figure city staff used to set the required water rate; a councilwoman said she understood the city's median income to be closer to $22,000.
- Water Superintendent Saeed Rose told the council the city cycles water pressure down at night to conserve supply, and staff defended the existing 10% late charge and $15 rebilling fee as avoidable.
- The council put the new water rates on hold by night's end, reverting bills to the old schedule, with a follow-up meeting on water alone set for Tuesday, September 17.
Recap
Leak-repair invoices ratified after the fact
The meeting was already underway when the recording starts, mid-discussion of invoices for completed leak repairs : contractor Fluker ($615), Quattlebaum (captioned "quad bomb," $6,400 and $2,200), and Crawford ($11,100). An administrator said the invoices exceed the mayor's normal $5,000 spending limit because they are emergency water-leak repairs, not routine purchases . City Attorney Andre Valley said the vote is for informational purposes, so the council and the public know how much the city is spending on leaks . The council voted to pay all of the invoices presented, contingent on funds being available .
Rate study modeled only through 6,000 gallons
A presenter told the council the adopted rate schedule was only modeled through 6,000 gallons of usage, so bills for heavier users multiplied far more than anticipated — one example given was a 100,000-gallon bill that went from $491 to $754 in a single month . Dr. Kyle Miller said his own math showed the new rates would literally double some bills, which he said nobody could sustain . He also asked why Conway's average water bill runs about $25 when Helena-West Helena's proposed rates run far higher .
Residents testify to bill shock
A resident testified that their own 1,000-gallon water bill went from $25.47 in August to $48 the next month . A council member cited a separate bill that doubled from $20 to $40 in one cycle, calling it an increase unlike anything she had seen in ordinary business . Mayor Christopher Franklin said he anticipated this reckoning when he ran for office, and that he, Councilman Etherly, City Attorney Valley, and Councilwoman Harris had all gone without water during the crisis .
Median household income: $31,118 versus a councilwoman's $22,000
A presenter said the city's loan requires water and sewer rates each set at 1.5% of median household income . Dr. Kyle Miller challenged the $31,118 median-income figure used to justify the increase , and Chief of Staff James Valley confirmed the number . Councilwoman Maxine Miller said she was not aware the city's median income was that high — she understood it to be closer to $22,000 . Valley later traced the figure to a state ANRC contact who used a lower base number but arrived at a higher rate than the city's own $38.90-$39.82 range .
Water Superintendent Rose on nighttime pressure cycling
Water Superintendent Saeed Rose introduced himself and told the council the city cycles water pressure down at night on the west Helena side to conserve supply, with reservoir levels near 32 feet, while also addressing public rumors about health risk . He deferred a detailed answer on high-usage complaints until he can present a full report from temporary meters installed to check for leaks .
Trust deficit: demand to hear Sternberg directly, spreadsheet withheld
Councilwoman Maxine Miller asked whether the council could bring consultant Dennis Sternberg and Superintendent Rose together with the council to go over the numbers directly, calling it a trust issue with figures relayed secondhand . Chief of Staff James Valley pushed back on the framing, saying the dispute was not about "eating crow" ; Dr. Kyle Miller said he wanted to hear Sternberg's numbers himself, with his own ears . Later, asked to share the rate-calculator spreadsheet with the public, an official said he would share it with whoever the council designated, but that an open-records request "kind of under investigation" meant the city did not have to share it with the general public .
10% late charge and $15 rebilling fee defended
An official defended the city's existing 10% late charge and its $15 rebilling fee as avoidable charges that apply only to customers who do not pay on time, meant to cover the cost of remailing bills . He said the underlying service charges had not increased in 20-25 years, that a 2005-06 levelization did not raise them, that a proposed $1 increase in 2009 was rejected by the council at the time, and that the next increase did not come until 2018 or 2019.
Outcome: new rates put on hold
City Attorney Andre Valley sought the night's bottom line on the record — whether the council was reverting to the old rate ordinance under a moratorium . Chief of Staff James Valley confirmed the new rates are going on hold, calling that his understanding . Councilman Don Etherly asked whether it would be safe to tell residents to simply pay what they paid last month . The council set a follow-up meeting for Tuesday, September 17, dedicated solely to the water rate ordinance .
Transcript
Auto-generated from the meeting video's captions and lightly cleaned for readability — wording is kept as spoken, not corrected, except that caption-garbled names of city officials are normalized against the roster. Speaker names follow the attribution work in our governance record; a ° marks a name our reviewers have not yet verified. Every timestamp plays the city's video from that moment. Watch the full meeting ↗
0:00
Chief of Staff James Valley after that it starts showing where she's already made payments so those first three uh or two of the three one of them 2200 you don't have to approve but the other two we'd ask that you would approve those such that she can pay them as the money is available to uh pay them to M Fluker and to bomb or qu bomb Mr well I guess it's fluca for $615 then there quad bomb 6,400 and 2200 and then that's Crawford 11,100 those [Music] three 78
0:51
Unidentified n that that may be right mine is not numbered I'm sorry Mr St Columbia
0:57
Unidentified 10 Ma you saiding what 11 starts start on page six Brown
1:30
Unidentified what's that [Music]
1:39
Unidentified for this work is already done this work is already done right yes
1:46
Unidentified yes sir [Music]
2:01
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) um I got a question and and hear me I'm not trying to be smart or or trying to get be a Wise Wise Guy okay if the if the work has already been done then why why are we approve it's over it's well
2:19
Chief of Staff James Valley the the it's over the 5,000 but these are emergency water leaks being repaired
2:24
Unidentified okay with qu bomb and okay that's what those are okay um this is for emergency emergency
2:32
Mayor Christopher Franklin repairs yeah yeah this the ongoing okay Le repair they've been doing the uh uh fluca thing is from last year and it's it's within the May spending limit I just proceed the email ask put it in in the packet so I don't I don't deny them when they asked to put them in the packet thing that I want y to be these these bills that you see for for plumbing fix these uh water leaks and stuff we kind of need to be in a place that we can pay for that I think you know we look at all the all what's going on with the city you know if I see some of them that's going to be a a $100,000 uh loan that we got that we got to pay back and we uh use net money to pay but I I don't know I hear people ask question about 600 but that's 64 that's a whole lot more but I think we should try to look at how can we Mr Miller the uh I'm sorry Mr Man with the other than those three Plum invo you've already approved those but you did approve them after they happen Okay but they've been approved and what you see that they submitted them to L Ro for payment or reimbursement I this this this to so for the people listening we have uh late in the evening late at night if you have low water precious because we're trying to on the west H the side we're trying to save water we told you last week that we're at like 32 feet but we're higher than that so we try to conserve water at night so if your pressure is low that is one of the reasons why so want to let you all know that uh we're going to run the ad on the radio as well to let people know H people H hadn't experienced that the people in West hell and are experienced that quite often I me and the City attorney could agree we I mean but I want people to know that yes sir yes
4:56
Water Superintendent Saeed Rose sir hello city council mayor Madam Clerk City attorney um yourself to the viewing audience oh yes um I'm s Rose the water superintendent and so I just wanted to share just a little light of What's um happening in the evening um I I pretty much want to thank um I I pretty much just want to uh address some of the concern um that could cause you know from having low pressure overnight uh we're doing this in very short increments to cycle and to refill conserve the water in the tank and build a level uh but when we're doing this uh keep in mind we are doing the proper blowoff techniques on the lines that we're cutting off to remove sediment and flush the lines as the water is pressure is building up back into the system that is going to your houses okay uh also I've uh kind of heard just um this overall with the low pressure concerns uh when it's low pressure and the pressure may be higher on the customer side of the meter and lower on our end and this pretty much is Just heel Hill elevation uh cases we are basically our meters are not reading backwards they're not going to register any water flow going back into the meter okay and so the meters are designed to register one way and so long as no water is being used that meter is not registering that usage okay and so I know I spoke about different cases of the last special city council meeting and um we are actually investigating all of those I have them right here and so we'll be replacing meters we'll be uh making sure uh vals are working um the corporation not the corporation but the actual copper seter it's not leaking on our end or the customer end uh but we're making sure that with these reverse flow situations that is not being calculated and added to the bill okay and so this overnight um tank maintenance as I want to call it uh this is very temporary this is just until we get the new weld online which hopefully be in a week or so and we'll be able to uh restore the system into full pressure but this is helping keep us out of danger zone okay and so it's it's a bitter evil but it is helping quite a bit but I just wanted to uh put some of the rumors and things at Bay um because we do not we're not I'm not about to do anything to put the public health at
7:35
Water Superintendent Saeed Rose risk okay thank so much okay M Rose um I know it's real early because we just had the meeting last week but so far have you been able to tell anything if if not I understand but have you been able to tell anything about like some of stuff we talked about like the the the leaks or uh software I know we're still kind of early the process yeah um I I I will
8:01
Water Superintendent Saeed Rose° actually want to um pause on that and I want to present a full report okay um of this because what we're doing is when we're looking at these very high usage cases uh we're going to replace with a temporary meter and I would like to have a accurate report from those meters before I I answer that okay any other questions for me okay
8:31
City Attorney Andre Valley yeah if I may Mr May to further answer Mr Miller's question from earlier you said the work has been done and while you getting now typically what happens is above 7500 you have to be it but you all as part of the beginning of the process you all voted to go ahead and get all the leaks fixed uh this is for informational purposes for you all to come back and ratify it so that the city council and the public would know this is how much we're spending on leaks so uh while you've already preliminary approved it it's good for public information and you all to know specifically what it is instead of just being a blanket what happened to $100,000 what happened to 50,000 what happened to 200,000 let the leaks continue to go and so that's why each each one of them are being presented uh to this body though the work has already been completed because us while they had sto get your vote and then go back and do the work and the system is fragile we want to make sure the leaks when they appear they fixed as quickly as possible without having to come back to the body so you're in a posture where you're ratifying where you fully know that we have leaks all over the city and that you've already authorized water problem go forward and get it done because we don't need this system to stop yes so that's for greater clarity as to why we're doing it this way versus traditional way we've always done
9:54
Unidentified it all right so are we ready to move on pay quad bombs off Del and Delta Plum it's the three uh and then I guess Miss Fluker okay with M fler
10:12
Unidentified um I see that she did a training manual and an emergency response plan I mean so this was not something we could get done inhouse I'm prly certain it wasn't
10:29
Unidentified um but that's something Mr mura contracted to have done and it just hasn't been paid yet and I don't know whether it hasn't okay she did the work
10:43
Unidentified yes ma'am I'm just I was just wondering yeah at at that time you know just before Mr Mor got the assistant and all of that too okay that's in 2023
11:00
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) unless there any discussion I move we pay all of these invoices inves presented tonight the
11:08
Unidentified second
11:10
Unidentified second second motion any discussion what is a motion approve those invoices all providing uh funds are
11:25
Unidentified available can I say that too providing funds are available
11:34
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey yes Mr columia yes Dr Miller yes Miss
11:40
City Clerk Sandi Ramsey° Harris yes Mr eely yes M Miller yes five
11:44
Chief of Staff James Valley yes all right and the other quick thing you have is your minutes and the only question is are you ready to approve them or do you want to wait until the next meeting we got minutes from two meetings one is August 13th and the other is September the 4th
12:01
Unidentified I like can we wait that's fine that's no
12:04
Unidentified problem all right so we we wait on the minutes and then the final thing is the the the packet involving the the water rates um and I don't know where where you like for me to start but would it be too much trouble for you that's why we asked about bringing some typ visual can you can you pull that up are you uh I'm gonna see if Joshua can
12:34
Unidentified okay I'm looking at some of the charts question he think that he may be able to which one which thing did you wanted to bring up he got the rate comparison yeah the r comparison I think was like what d e d c d yeah okay
12:56
Unidentified okay so kind of explain what did yeah cuz what I was trying to figure out was what the like your percentage of what
13:06
Chief of Staff James Valley° well the percentage is not going to work okay the reason is that uh it's based on usage or per gallon per thousand gallon okay and so the lower you use the lower the percentage increase okay on the same month okay and the more you use percentage increase goes up okay and I can show you on a different thing in a little bit I think I shared that with Joshua but this July is came your packet is option A and August is B July is what the rates were three different proposals to three proposals to do um partial increases and then come back six months later to do the completion with option f um and so these really just a visual comparison of what the rates were and they moved to and how they went up what joshu you slide that up some what we didn't really anticipate didn't really look at closely enough you went too far was we showed you through 6,000 gallons in your last in the packet when we adopted it and so it wasn't necessarily unreasonable through 6,000 gallons but as you continue to go up the same numbers multiplied quite a bit and so for example right here 100,000 gallons uh was 491 in one month and went to $754 in the next month right but the the rate that these people are being charged per thousand gallons is the same as these people so this went up uh three times over 300% right that one went up maybe 100% if you're doing it by percent so that's why I'm saying the percentage wouldn't accurately describe what happen but the multiply is so large in here it's $17.46 per thousand and so what we've done well what they told us was you can't go below what we proposed in the race study right um and so and there also the other thing where we're trying to meet the amount needed for the mhi the meeting household income so so so we
15:29
City Attorney Andre Valley° he asked you who said we can't go the race study
15:32
Chief of Staff James Valley° Dennis Sternberg yeah
15:37
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) because here's here's the thing I went through and I I added up you say I think the at the base I think it 1.5% it it when you calculate it when you calculate it because I I didn't I never really sat down to do the numbers as I sat down to do the numbers it literally doubles your your bill right nobody can sustain can sustain right why
15:59
Unidentified we proposing do it in two different increments now right and the other thing we're doing in terms of breaking up what the race study showed instead of you slide it back down Joshua instead of doing it the way they had in the race study where water started out at $16.20 and SE started at $927 add those two numbers together divided by two and start there and let the increments go up in smaller increments as they go up so so you're
16:25
Unidentified saying so option C that would be like one option and then it would go from 48 to 5050 to is that correct yeah that's
16:34
Unidentified right on this option is going up what's that $8 yeah a
16:40
Unidentified thousand okay well okay listen start like if you were if you looking at say like for August for a th000 gallons they just say th000 gallons th000 gallons in August in August it was 2547 my next month bill would be 48 right that's still all yeah it's still it's this 20 $2 or so yeah I mean we got different proposals but but but you you're going up you you're literally trying to get from 2632 to $80 over some period of Time how you divide it that's what the numbers come out to
17:17
Unidentified okay here's one thing I I want the C but
17:19
City Attorney Andre Valley no no stra that you're trying to get from $40 42 to 4,000 gallon to $80 over a period of time one of the things about it Dr Miller you asked a question about the race study as it relates to the law on the race study one thing I want remind the Council of under the new laws every year we have to have a rate study and after it's passed you have to meet that standard within 365 days or one year uh or El you run a file of state law and so we can't go lower than whatever the race study that we got approved and has to be adopted you have up to a year to bring it up to that level is is what I'm saying the the actual standards of the requirements or the actual the amount of the fees cuz that just seems excessive to me dou what the race studies show for for that you should be charging uh to be profitable whatever that is you have to meet that standard within one year received we received it either in June or July I can't remember the precise day we received it okay so then this is my question so
18:26
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) then how how do how do how does somewhere like Conway and their average bill is like $25 well that's a good question Dr M
18:36
Unidentified here's what here's what happened the city of Helena and the City of West Helena had two separate units uh and what happened is when we had boards and commissions the rates will never increase uh going back to 2003 to 2006 when my wife was in law school I used to go to the water util with a $20 bill and get changed sure and issue is during those time periods our rates par should have been higher our issue is we still have the same amount of infrastructure but we have less people so a city like kway while they have infrastructure they have far more people and so they have far more people able to pay the bill to keep the infrastructure I the cost of infrastructure is still going to be a constant for us even as our population Contin to streng and one of the other issu is if you look at it a car a house anything like that take a car motor if a person is uh constantly getting their oil change and getting the service and Etc they're just doing general maintenance and that's cheaper but if it's neglected eventually you're G to get a new engine the issue with us is on the scenario we can't get a new car a person with a bad engine can just get a new car but we have to use the same equipment if a person had a leak in their house uh or person needed new shingles that's a Comm common maintenance 25 years you're going to get some singles 15 years you might get some singles but if you developer Elite you got a place to not only the single the boys is on the leaf you might have to pay the rafters may have to do the insallation you may have to do a ceiling and all those things we're in a posture where we can't be compared to other people because we've allowed our infrastructure to Decay to T aort that we have to repair all of that in addition and one thing the public needs to understand we've been telling them about this whale but that's a far larg issue we're just at the very beginning we're only talking about one whale on the west side we we need additional Wells on the west side we need maintenance work on the water side on the east side too and we haven't started discussing the sewer on either side we haven't started discussing the lines on either side and so when we start looking at the race study the money we need we're eventually going to have to pay more and more more money because long term we have to develop something that is consistent and something that continuously gradually raises rates to meet the infrastructure needs that we have and that's just general maintenance that didn't include us having a premium system that's just general maintenance and replacing all the lines now hopefully uh we'll get some grants and those things but this is just the very beginnings of the conversations about all the infrastructure needs that we we have uh there are issues with tanks there issues with other things that we've been discussing for a long time the other issue we have I Know M other issue you have is you have to repace some of the pumps in other places but to answer your question that's that's part
21:30
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) of what we're dealing with I just I just know any increase of anything I've never seen an increase that was double in one bill where you went from one thing to another and it was literally double the next bill even if if you look at any business any business model if even if you went double it would be protract it would typically be protracted over two or three years but to get something at $20 and then my next bill is 40 it's just
21:59
Unidentified yes typically what
22:01
Mayor Christopher Franklin you this this is this is where we are I understand I don't like it either uh when I campaigned run for May I knew this going to be a problem I think all of you who are new to this uh M Mr Mr Ed in St Columbia we've been had these problems it wasn't talked about as broad as it is now I think I think you know I think people just have to understand that none of my water be 385 but I got to pay and you those people in West Helen who were without water for that period of time understand and they want water hel side I think Mr Anthony Mr Valley myself Miss Harris was out of water you know we we had the water CR was telling everybody else had water I don't want to be without water I understand that everybody saying it's going to hurt it's going to hurt but if we do nothing where are we I mean hopefully that we can get to a number and start climbing I mean water is is essential to what this community needs no the hospital any chemical plant these folks don't want to be around without water
23:28
Chief of Staff James Valley Mr Mayor Mr Val in all due respect we appreciate your remarks but we we got something we need the general public and the council to understand and that's why we've done all this work so that they can see it uh Dr Miller asked the question part of Mr Val's answer was correct that is the race study says what it says you have to do what it say the conflict between the rate study and the loan requirements is what is the gap here the rate study does not raise the rates as much as the loan requires the rates to be raised to and if you recall when we came back to Helena people complained about Helena having high water bills compared to West Helen when we Consolidated we brought hela's bills down but that was because Hela had a loan for I believe the sewer puns that raised the rates it's similar to what's going to have to happen here in in some fashion it may not have been as much but it's that's what the com the that's what the issue was now Joshua if you would raise this up this is option e Mr Miller uh and we had I had to do each option as a different table right and so on here you can click on residential inside the city limit the size of the meter whether you have sewer and then put your usage in it right and then it calculates based on Josh you click on this rate table here so you have a a sheet somewhere called option e and it shows these rates right and so these rates here start you out at $20 for uh the one in smaller than one in 3 in 3/4 of 58 in water and then down here it's got the same thing on sewer but it the first 5,000 gallons we Char 185 and then on Su slide it down a little bit Joshua so they can see it Su was charging $3 per thousand so you charging $485 per thousand for the first 5,000 gallons and then it it it changes as the number goes up and then on the commercial side we did the same thing as 150 uh for water for the first 15,000 gallons and $3 and $5 increments so the more they use the more they pay now if you go back to the bill calculator over here you give me a number he can put in here Cal it'll calculate uh the amount of the cost so want to do Residential let's say we had a lady that had a bill for about $500 for $25,900 gallons put 25,900 in there all right then just Tab and scroll down so they can see it there so it's calculated here the 5,000 10,000 10,900 and it came up with 8468 and then the $25,900 377 70 plus the 20 total $182 38 before taxes on Water and Sewer there's no ta water and sanitation there's no taxes on sewer and then in sanitation is not in there either right so but if you look at that comparison chart Josh you go to the rate comparison this is 25,000 gallons raise this up to 25,000 yeah just raise it up yeah no no no don't change the MTH nothing scroll up to this 25,000 over here so that's substantially less it's 183 compared to 444 but it's it's that's compared to 139 so it it still it still goes up but not nearly as much and that would be 183 or whatever should be on E we may have changed e uh but it eventually gets up to 303 oh I'm looking at 50 gets up to 220 in 6 months to a year whenever you raise them up completely unless you tweak the numbers to bring that down which you can do uh we've had some suggestion from some people to add a flat $25 to each customer uh that's residential add 5050 to Commercial and 100 150 to Res to Industrial uh and you can do that if just what you choose to do and we can calculate how to do that the only problem with that is that it's regressive it charges the people who are using less water a lot more money than the people who are using a lot of water as a percentage of the income because you raise that up $25 and they us two 2,000 gallons uh slide that down a little Jos so we can see it so this one up $25 on on a th000 gallons that' be $50 right that's like 2,000 gallons over here but it it just mult the multiply would I think would be unfair to those at at that's using the least it's going to go up on those using the least anyway don't care what you do uh because you start at a minimum you got a minimum charge and a price00 and we can go back to that calculator that we using and show you different scenarios if you'd like to see those um and we got them calculated for option C D E and F like more water use more balance the increase is starting out if you're low water user that initial jump is pretty high right and and and we can calculate that in a way where for example this doesn't go up but 2,000 3,000 4,000 goes up and then you go back down at 5,000 so for example you're trying to get to $40 water $40 sewer if you start this at let's say $12 which would be $24 right you would divide that 24 by no you subtract 24 from 40 Le 16 right and you need to get um $4 or $8 basically $8 a th000 for the next 3,000 gallons and then it can go down or up depending on how you want to do it and what your goal is in terms of the money
30:19
Unidentified now what about I know I'm throwing my questions what what about sewer do we have to go up on I mean do we really have to go up on sewer could we get break and just look at water now and then pass on SE ultimately the sewer and
30:33
Unidentified the water have to hit this 4,000 gallon Mark but you can price it however you you want that's why I'm saying you could start low and then it goes up on two three and four and then it goes back down at five I guess what I'm saying do we I mean do we either have to go up on cuz that kick right right we do have to they both have to hit the same Mark it's my understanding that the water needs to be at the 1 and a half% mhi and Sewer needs to separately be one and a half% mhi they're considered separate utilities water and
31:14
Unidentified sewer I was thinking that Mr Sternberg suggested that we could wait on the sewer portion and with the 100,000 that we're trying to get the loan forgiveness for does does it specify that we have to go up on the sewer park or is it just if
31:33
Unidentified we address the water well the 100,000 is is is not
31:40
Chief of Staff James Valley really the issue I mean I've heard people talk about the $100,000 imagine you City can pay $100,000 back the issue is the $1 million Loan in terms of pay that's yeah we could actually possibly get forgiven for the 100,000 probably get forgiveness for 100,000 as is the governor may be able to do that if she see you taking some steps to help yourself kind of thing um but my understanding is that the rate has to be 1.5% mhi for water and SE now what Mr Sternberg was probably referring to is your rate study shows you your sewer utility made $20 and some odd thousand last year but your water utility lost 700,000 I think some of that is in in the way we account for how we pay our bills in the department that is water is paying all the bill Su is not so Su looks like it's making a profit when it's really not if I making sense to you if you charge the whole light bill to the water department you know all of the fuel to the on and on and so just pay for things that are only sewer related then you know SE gets by with not paying all sewer expenses and
32:58
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° something so okay so I was looking and it seems like we calcul 32 $334,000 a year median income something like that right
33:08
Chief of Staff James Valley° 3118
33:11
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1)° and I wasn't aware that we had that as a median income I thought our median income was like 202 maybe right so I guess what I'm I'm kind of leading to is if all of this rate study and everything was done based on a higher median income than we even make then that's already putting our citizens in a position to pay more than what they're actually bringing in right and so I'm just kind of wondering about that's it's it may seem like a small imbalance but to the average person that's a big imbalance so if you could
33:52
Chief of Staff James Valley kind oflen right so deid Dixon with ARA Natural Resources Commission uh talked to me specifically about that she used a number lower than 31118 but she came up with a higher number for the stuff I came up with $38.90 she came up with $39 82 and basically what they do is they take a fiveyear uh number and average it and come up with what the mhi should be and that's why I told you in the email she said that our rate was $25.20 on the first thousand gallons which would have been in 2020 2 maybe and they when they approved the $1 million loan they assumed that our rates were or would be uh at $39.88 based on the mhi number she used and so I I understand what you're saying but that that the mhi is what the census has for 31118 but they've used the census data for over the last five years or five entries or however they did it but it's the average that she used and it's a little bit lower but she still came up with a higher number U matter of fact she told me she had to call me back and get some somebody look over a shower kind of thing she wanted to know why I wanted that number and I explained to her what I was trying to do U cuz I'd already done it based on her email but she sent an email to Mr Murdoch in January of 2023 that had all this information in it what I would like to do is for us to earnestly crunch these numbers so they make sense for everybody and the reason I say that is because
35:29
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1) even the angriest of people that I've talked to all said Miss Miller we understand that there needs or there's going to be an increase of some sort we just do not want to be trying to figure out how we're going to pay our water bill versus paying you know for food and gas lights whatever else that's all they're saying right so what I I'm hoping is that we
35:56
Unidentified can really look at that the least amount of increase that we can do that would satisfy our being able to get long forgiveness but would make our people not so right that's a big jum right so the
36:18
Unidentified way you could can do that basically as I see it that you would divide the increases up and do them as AOS so this is 6 months you do it maybe quarterly because I think you need to have it all in place by the end of 2025 basically what they're saying is that the rates need to be in place by the time they close on the loan which we got some time before they close on along because we got to develop the plans do the bidding all the procurement and all that stuff it'll be a much slower process going through the 11 million than it is building this well because we waved bidding we won't be able to wave bidding won't be able to wave any of the steps so that helps our community to buy some time um and Joshua if you go to that calculator way over there to that one and then go to the rates I can just show you for example Miss Miller uh if Joshua you go up here on that three quarter and just change that number to $8 yeah change that to eight just hit eight and then come down here on the sewer and do the same
37:35
Unidentified thing it's not letting you edit it oh I may have to edit it but he may
37:43
Unidentified not have permission to edit it so if I I change this number it'll lower that from 20 to 8 here so that's $12 last be $24 right and then you can do your increase lower uh and see what that comes up to just for example I can give you the the basic bill on that I need to I guess I need to log I can calculate that in my head too uh it's what I said 88 16 and then 485 185 485 let's just round up5 so and then add five to that 2,000 29 3,34 4,000 [Music] at9 set it that and that's 39 compared to um 26 right now and then lat something adjust up I suggest you do all of the on so you have fight one time but adjust race or in that are smaller I heard someone say that um and
39:14
Unidentified I thought this this was a really U wise idea that if maybe we could have some um I don't want to say dummy bills but if we could just have um some some actual ideas of what the bills would look like say if we use this number and if we use this number and if we use this number I mean because this that's that's what this is what
39:43
Mayor Christopher Franklin that is yeah but I mean if if if you okay y'all understand this yeah but the public doesn't understand it would be nice for them to be able to see okay if I if I uh you know use 2,000 gallons my bill's going to look like this if I use this my bill's going to look like this adding in the sewer adding in this to y'all understand this well that's what the first page is right I mean I would just like us to present something to the public so that they can see what their bill would look like Mr B would you would you go would you have J to go back to so miss Milan see where where you can we can put your your sewer rate in your water rate in all that in and and it show you what your bill would come out as those numbers okay so the Public's gonna have access to that drop down and all of that yeah yes they will yeah okay if they're gonna have access to that and they can see that that's we when we created I use to see how much cuz my neighbor Bill between me and my momma her bill is $60 cuz she didn't go over usage so she's one person in the house no children just her bill was $60 she didn't go over the limit okay but they'll be able to access this prior to I guess what I okay I know that if we go with whatever rate they could take that drop down and they could plug in the rate that we arbitrarily uh select and they could see what their bill is I guess what I'm trying to find out is is it a way for us is it a way for us to say choose this the lowest amount that would help us to qualify for whatever we need to qualify for and show the average person what their bill would look like with that yes yes but but but but even whatever we choose whatever we choose
41:57
Chief of Staff James Valley yeah and so I changed that to 88 okay and on 4,000 G 185000 for water and then for the first 5,000 Gall and so they paid eight and then 4 time 18574 was $20 and then in8 12 $35 40 okay so if we charged if we did the $8 that's if we did the and we're charging actually for each th000 G so we got $8 minimum and then G charg 85 $3 and so but I thought that all right ask a question I and I can change this number you know that's why I'm trying to illustrate for you change this number and changes all of this or we can change what we charging for the first 5,000 gallons this is more like an affordability thing but it doesn't quite help solve problem you can make people race slowly increase you know you eight here you go to 12 that be8 more 12 and 12 you see what I'm saying you do it that way I don't know you want to do it but you make it go slower but that's 4,000 your average use is 5,475 according to the race study according to August report together like 4,475 which means maybe people L water on the average but I will say this um and I say this I feel like I'm almost being but I don't intend to you we got some people who were comfortable with high usage but because it was cheap they didn't care whe I don't know what it was LE irrigation system or what it the water so cheap didn't matter uh we went to check somebody who had high high usage and they complain about the the rate that it went up 300% and when we checked it what we found was between early hour early morning hours to about time somebody go to work us shout up all day Zero and then late evening it shot up and then late night went back to zero well don't go to zero if you don't have if you have a Le it never go to zero right so that's them using the war and some of that may have been an irrigation system or something of that sort well we recommend people who have irrigation systems so what's other sprinkler systems is that they get a separate meter where they don't pay sanitation they don't pay SE it just pay Straight water on that particular meter it may be cheaper than trying to have irrigation that you paying SE on and sanitation is charged to it as well and so you know that's going to be some of the stuff that we have to deal with as we go forward and I know people not just said prepared to go out and put a new G in separate line and all that today but it may over time save them money if they do it that way but it's not fair to everybody else for them complain when they water in the gra you know it's a difference in mean cooking and cleaning Ma and all that I got to do that not ask Brown that people not my
45:57
Unidentified I just want us to think I mean I I do understand that we're going to have to do an increase of T sword right I just want us to do it in such a way that it doesn't choke people out I mean I that's all I'm saying well well that's why we
46:14
Unidentified we did the comparison CH and and and the proposal is in two chunks some now some six months but it's up to this this body to decide how you want to break the chunks up but I don't think you got more than than a year from from a standpoint of compliance La what the real underlying problem is you kind of need cash flow some anyway because it's while these rates may be chos people us operating as we are chosen sanitation department and other departments because we don't have money to operate water department operate at a nav but it's keeping Sanitation that's go to the
47:05
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2) J i' like to say and I understand what you're driving at uh people are looking at the bottom line what they're you know and all of a sudden their bill move two and 300% some places some even higher than that like the nursing home for an example they called me and told me that their bill was just astronomical and if it continued like that they'd have to close we can't afford to lose businesses either uh we need to find a rate that everybody can live with and the bottom line will not be so astronomical that they can afford to pay it uh I don't know what the solution is I know it this didn't happen overnight and it's not going to be solved overnight and I know we have to have the loan we have to make a loan to pay for that well but uh we can't cause these people to have to pay excessive amounts unnecessarily uh did you veto what we did the other night last recently have you VTO our action that this Council
48:39
Unidentified no so we're on the old rat right now is that correct not quite
48:46
Unidentified yet sir not quite that's what we going not quite we're not process to get them down so working on they're working on it
48:58
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2) yes sir I called water company and they told me nobody over there knew anything about what well our one of my constituents called me mine too she said she went to go pay and she said she she had been told that they had not been given permission to go back to the original rate which was confusing to me because I thought that um the ordinance that's legally binding in
49:32
Unidentified it so what wants to but it's not just the ordinance that makes the race move okay because what you're trying to do is go in eras in Ence the month of AUST start over to reset we are not do that do right and all that one of the things we have inv nothing wrong work RPS basically get all that erased out
50:13
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1) and okay but in the meantime surely we're not going to assess them for late fees and whatever else I mean are we I mean because we're the ones that are holding things up for them right now
50:31
Unidentified right so disconect all yeah so so so yeah working through that
50:45
Unidentified but the what I was going to ask you or suggest to you is that you you pick a minimum pick a minimum as you start right you going increase something and the question is what that is and then you uh come up with what you going to charge per and then but the lower you start it seems to me let's say we got8 if it's that low these other numbers need to increase a little bit sooner brought it down to 185 to kind of get it down but it's just a joke what num put where ter that so right now you're 2620 right6 have whatever whatever we suggest I mean
51:47
Mayor Christopher Franklin from what I'm hearing you know it's going to be too much for the customer I mean so I mean my thing is I when I was on the city council we did a little but before that I don't know what anybody did and I know people been around table longer than I have was and I mean I don't know what happened before but this the thing Chris Park uh when I was in the water department today nor came in W no people are paying the bill you know I mean they trying to adjust to it I understand that people are calling but you know I'm gonna do whatever y'all said do but what we have done I I take a lit for this what we have done you can't call some of the energy complain about their rates and they go down but what we did is gave the public more power to say listen if you go up if you go up $4 and they come back and tell you that's too much what we going to do we going go back to the old rates at some point we got to make a stand on where we want this city to go I understand I'm not worried about reelection I'm not worried about none of that I mean if I'm here I'm here if I'm not I'm not but I want to be on the right side that I'm doing what was right for this community because whenn Lose or Draw somebody gonna replace us all anyway so at some point we got to say I'mma bite this bullet and do what I need to do because it's not going in our pockets this to make this community better and we can sit around and go to this long drawn out we see what it is uh pick a number and when you pick the number the public they don't like the we going to be back at the drawing board at some point we have to figure out what we want for this community do we want water do we want a well do we want sanitation do we want sewer what do we want we want it at a decent cost but let's make sure that we don't put this loan we can pay back is the loan worth it yes because without the loan we can't do what we need to do in this community we have not received any funds for anything how we got this first well Bill you all should know there are CDs that we cashed in to put this well we we wave B and everything so this first work can get done I know I know the public is on y'all they on me too but guess what I say Liberty Mutual say the best you got to pay for what you need we need a lot of stuff in this community we need fire police sanitation fees we need garbage all these things we need and sometimes for me I'm G say this I'm G let me sometimes it's frustrating to me as well this like we want to a lot of us can't afford it my mom is on a fixed income and I understand it I mean people people got a lot to say but at some point we see what the old hel old hel W has done not to do anything you you on bypass pump for sure you got more lease than you can fix you got limited help and if we let they elected us to do a job they elect us to Rob they elect us to do a job it's the job I intend to do so no I have not vetoed anything but the people who have already paid they paid I think at some point we got to take a stand on where we want to see this city go if the race is too high you know you pick the number that you feel comfortable with and go from there but let's make sure we can also pay this $11 million loan
55:10
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1) back is there any way that we could possibly and I know people get annoyed with this but I'm gonna ask it anyway is it any reason that we could not get the person who originally wrote the loan Mr Sternberg Mr Rose everybody who is intricately involved with this whole process together financially I mean and let's crunch the numbers mean we not I mean that would seem feasible to me I mean and I'm asking that because I just think that if you have everybody at the table and you have all of that knowledge then if I'm asking that we knock it down to eight but the person you know who wrote the loan or Mr Sternberg says well Miss Miller you know the Eight's not going to work I really think it needs to be 14 then you've got everybody at the table who can give you valuable input on what you set the rate for but but we're telling you what they're telling us and to me it feel like it's it's a trust issue I'm tell mayor in all due respect
56:27
Unidentified I have heard that Mr Sternberg has said several times that is not what he said
56:34
Unidentified has he told you that that is not what he said we heard it from credible sources everybody people who communicate with him directly so hold on hold on we
56:47
Unidentified talking about that is not what he said I don't know what not just and that's okay I don't know what the dad is but we have his report that's what I say right we got his report which was a recommendation it was not a Mand it was not a mandate it was a recommendation it is technically not it was not a mandate it is technically a mandate because we have to at least meet the recommendation of the rate study within 365 days of receiving the rate study we cannot go lower than the rate study so that is M that's where the question is because my understanding is that we can so let's bring him in and we'll ask him well if you're right I'll eat
57:38
Chief of Staff James Valley° crow I want hear this is not about
57:41
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° eating crow I want to hear it myself here's one thing here's one thing I want to hear with my ears I want to hear with my ears here's one and and the reason why Mr Valley is this this is a big this is a big a big step we're asking people to people who's somebody who's used to paying $25 now double their their water bill no well hold on hold
58:04
Unidentified on what you show me on the chart it went from 25 to $44 that's that's you said we are ask
58:11
Unidentified that's almost double we we we're trying to find the happy medium what I understand that was one that was one of the that was one of the models that us and and let me say this too and in our confidence I appreciate you for put putting that together it was extremely helpful thank you I'm so I'm not I'm not being a complete jerk but I just want to make sure as as with Miss Mill that we're doing the right thing right and and what I was going to say to you is that some of these numbers are lower than the yes sir and the I notice that and the numbers as the the bigger numbers looked more reasonable did look a lot more reasonable so just by example CH to 15 yes sir 4,000 G $494 yes sir you look on your front page comparison yes sir that 4,000 right now is
59:04
Unidentified $40 yes sir so less $9 more 4,000 yes sir and if you go that low at some point like over 15,000 that's to go toate money Swit the numbers
59:24
City Attorney Andre Valley around now that has to be balanced I appreciate uh everything that's been said this evening and the one thing I want to remind you all the City attorney that still has to be balanced because at some point the infrastructure is the infrastructure and the need is the need and it's one of those things that when my when I saw my bill double I was concerned that my bill double uh and I to have a mother that's 86 years old who retired and her bill went up and and the thing I'm saying is this it's not that I'm empath empathize with people but one thing I want I want to say to the body is part of the historical issues that we have when we have boards and commissions we have City councils it's this whole politicization of this this is a basic financial decision and it's a tough decision but it's one that has to be made and as the mayor said earlier we don't get the storm Summit we don't get to go to AT&T we don't get to go to eny or any other person people have access to you which is a good thing but at the same time they make decisions based on what is in the best interest of the utility and that's what has to happen now the issue with it yall can go lower than what was already done but at some point we still have to meet what the minimum r study is and we have to tell the public that this realistically is the beginning because as I said this is only dealing with water on the west side and one wh and we still have to deal other Welles we still have to deal with sewer and we still have other things to deal with and we still have to as as the chief of staff keeps pointing out we still have to deal with some loan and the capacity to repay that loan and I don't want that to fall on De ears and force the public to understand this now others have said things about the state the state has $750 million pplus okay but there's 75 counties in the state and if the state spent $10 million these counties $750 million is gone the state that is not a viable option the city is going to have to deal with this the the city is the ones that that ended up causing issue and the city has to work its way out of it and we need to look at it incrementally and keep moving forward because our rates are going to be in a position where we're going to be raising rates consistently probably annually for quite some time to meet this need well let me
1:02:11
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1) say this to and again not to be a jerk but also too when we as we moving forward and we're looking at these rate increases let and I'm not saying that we aren't but but let's also be conscious and mindful of look in our budgets as well you know if we if we can consider doing a hiring freeze to to to save funds if we can look at um you know not H not hiring you know another secretary um if we C if we can look at um eliminating position I'm not talking about firing anybody but um if a position vacates not filling that position so that we can free up funds let's please do some of those things and tighten up some of our our our uh tight tighten our our uh belts up because you know it's hard to and I know you all understand this but it's hard to ask people to make these sacrifices and then in in their perceptions I'm not saying it's necessarily true but in per in perceptions that well they're Contin adding this position they're contining hiring these people mayor's Contin he's increased his salary but you're going up on our water you know and those are the things that that my constituents and some of Y constituents come to us about so if if we're going to make these Cuts let's let these Cuts be across the board for everybody and also I just you know I don't know that my I don't know that everybody's standpoint is politicized I think what some of this is is as a body we are earnestly trying to listen to the people in this community who are paying the said water builds and so it is their money it is their well it is their their resources and so I'm just saying that to me it makes sense that when you're making a super hard decision we are in crunch time we know the dire circumstances we're in right now but why not give the public the benefit of hearing from everybody involved again if that's what it takes to get them to understand the reason why we need to do what we need to do that's all I'm saying okay I don't think it's gonna hurt us to do that City attorney I don't I mean and if I'm wrong I stand corrected but I don't see where it hurts okay if I may respond the issue
1:04:44
City Attorney Andre Valley I'm saying when I say politicize what I mean is the boards and the city council are elected people who see the citizens I was using a term of art I didn't say didn't do you due diligence I didn't say do I said we have to look at this as a business we have to look at it in those terms in terms of you can hear from your constituents and make decisions what I'm saying is decisions have to be made and we have to inform the citizens of the fullness of the issue because while we're looking at it and we're having hit here no one likes to pay more I don't like to pay more but as you walk forward we also have to be mindful of all the things that are coming as it relates to the remaining issues with the utility water and sewer and the other things that's all I wanted to say and the politization was a term of art that talks about you all are all elected the boyss were all appointed but people still have access what they can call nobody as the may say can call some and say lower my lower my bill nobody can call it and say lower my bill nobody can call AT&T and a low my bill they make decisions that are not based on them being elected the people don't have access access to them they they establish the rates and that's the end of it now that's a beautiful thing that citizens can contact each of you uh but also it slows the process there have been two ordinances passed by this body one in 2008 and one in 2019 and that's why I made that's why I was saying the politicization of it is people have to face the public when dealing with it and many times City councils are paed and they said that I want to do the increases but you're in a position now where the increases of something that is GNA have to happen and if I may I don't and I don't want
1:06:33
Mayor Christopher Franklin anybody I'm trying to say do do the highest when I was on the city council U when when I first got on they was saying $10 to a $10 increase everybody was scared so we did a $5 we did whatever we had to do but I I don't want people think that I'm just seeing here uh I'm seeing where we going and if you look at where we're going it's not pretty for anybody see the the citizens of hel has not been without water but the people in West H know what it is to go time and time without water I got a daughter I have a mother I the women especially need water and there was a lot of women in West H there was a lot of Business Without Water and to hear people say well you got water and I tell them no I'm like you in West I don't have water I'm like Mr Anthony I don't Mr Mr Valley I don't have water and it's not to say that we need to be worried about while we thinking about raising these rates we need to be concerned about where Helen as well because Helen is not in the best of shape so we need to be trying to educate our people that we're in a dangerous time I understand and I I sympathize I understand that we some folks can't pay it well we got a chart here to show us what what can we do but we want to do enough so that we can can pay this stuff back nobody is not using this money to because you can't use money to give a raise this money strictly for water sewer it's not about hiring anybody it's about doing exactly what we need to is to keep people coming because think about it the more we discuss water sewer how many people are going to feel comfortable come here when a city is on the brink of not having water it's not just Helen it's all over the world people are having problem with water infrastructure and I'm not trying to be mean and if if I sound hard forgive me I just want us to I I want us to do one thing is save our water department you could do whatever you want to do I'm asking to do something you if you feel like the number that we the number that you all Ved on was too much figure it out let's meet again till you all get comfortable enough because I can't pick the number six you all pick the number so we need to get where the public can understand yes I had to do this because this is what we're going you know you everybody around the table represent somebody and you have to say look this is what it is you got daycares hospitals nursing homes you got to let these folks know I do care understand that $8,000 water bill is high but yeah but we chose the higher rate so it's up to us now to try to see what can we do that is comfortable for the people so as the chart Mr Valley has up let's see what's comfortable let's let's let's keep going till we get it right what done talking change the
1:09:41
Unidentified numbers 4,000 G yes sir to the race begin on on sewer and then the increase is half of what he suggest water
1:09:56
Unidentified right he 739 who is he
1:10:07
Unidentified Mr I got 375 350 7 20 25 and that P that on 4,000 G add6 Plus dollar over uh what they're paying now that's half implementation of the r that's still not going to get you to the other number just showing you if I change that number 375 to 739 just so you can see it it take a minute to calculate 62 which is about2 that's just those are R stud yeah that was okay if you want to do that I don't
1:10:56
Unidentified see in the sense you you going to do the SE and they for $188 a th000 you delaying that that's really too low that's what I I said in the public here in December and I've said before the dollar AB but Mak profit so no water be those and go before you leave the race study numbers that doesn't increase the bill by 50% does it percentages are not fair talk about
1:11:41
Unidentified I'm saying but so you what you would do this this might be 45 50% if you do $40 42 and the difference in that in the 62 55 I don't know the reason provide Legal character because the issue is if it's not a 50% increase the rate study then you have up to two years to implement the changes but if it's less than 50% you have the 50% is about uh the ratio of people that fall below your poverty level if they are below 50% you can delay above 50% of the people you can delay the number greater than 50% you can take more time to implement the r i can get you I read somewhere I find make so again we can change these numbers change the approach we can do it how you decide to do it but I'm telling you you giving away the phone if you set your at and the race numbers are break even break even just that that does not for any new other adjustment you need but while we got this table here that's part reason change num see how imp might somebody
1:13:42
Unidentified 300,000 and what and just just out curiosity that that 6255 that would be in comparison to what what would be what they're paying now Okay click click over
1:13:53
Unidentified here on the rase comp Sor okay okay which would be $40 42 is that right 42 or so 42 4 okay so that's where they are right this is what we come up with because that match that number and these are just different propos ACR okay and all that can twe by doing the increments like 5,000 after that and then that but that number you had on the the next page for 6255 that c back on that one that was from that was that that was on 4,000 gallons from 4,000 gallons and R study 1620 was R we did reduce the initial rate the initial rate was 167 in julyed to2 something okay but that's not including there was something up there that said a $25 sanitation Fe the water so right here change that has City trash change it to yes next change to back down it's going to add $25 so this bill taxes the doll9 ft is whatever that is but I didn't make that I didn't include the 2825 comparison I sent you I just compared water consum okay so the $9.80 is actually what the customer would see not the $476 well that's water this is and then the garbage in out and all that the 28 whatever and and they 90 plus taxes on water taxes on sanitation and a190 other fees okay so that ending final bill will be $908 right plus taxes and a doll so another 12 $13 so about3 with that and that's on 4,000 but they paying what they were let me see what they be 9 he said another 13 or so this should be pop and the I can't remember what the SE was but it's just one up pen I'm just going to put 158 the 90 was 72 so it's 18 rough rough $188 and that's again that's Implement race the full number they that they say you can do it in Parts you do it I'm suggesting you but it's 3 instead of 739 right here I guess what
1:18:14
Councilwoman Maxine Miller (Ward 1) the sticker shot for me was I was thinking that I mean cuz my bill went up too and my increment incre was not something that I was going on my God but I was thinking everybody's Bill might go up $20 $30 something like that so I think that's why I sort of freaked out too when I saw some of the bills because I was thinking how did we get from an extra $30 to an extra two three four $500 yeah and and that's that's what I'm
1:18:48
Unidentified saying the multipli is what the problem was there let me just just watch as I change the numbers to what we did did do in implementing what we thought was required to uh meet those numbers we did 16 20 and we did 7 58 and then 988 and then we did 9 did we do 988 we did 927 so that same 4000 123 72 well 72 yeah 72 123 that's why I'm saying also the percentage thing is not a good way of doing it the more usage you got the greater 300,000 G they are the so and I can show you oh Josh need to do that Josh change that Us number 300,000 them 3 299000 200 4,000 200 yeah must at least one Gall less than the um water or the formula won't work now scroll back down and look so 200,000 right that's under the new but if we go back to the old there so 00,000 from roughly $1,000 35 and that's again C multiply was $17 46 Cent per th gallon and if you just add the race study numbers up at 739 and 282 I think is what he proposed I forget the number but that's about $10 20 so 511 you need $10.20 between the two that's why I propos on one of them $511 increments that you go up you might start with going up3 and then five next time or you can do five for the first few thousands of gallon drop down the three and then later go up you got some every time you change something it works out different but they allate fun certainly the more you charge on the minimum the more you collect you get from everybody but you do have quite a few highend us about 800 of the users are highend I mean over 50,000 gallons but that's going to include some of your commercial some of your restaurants uh grocery stores other businesses use quite a bit of water so is our next step to maybe have a a what do they call those a a workshop a budget Workshop or Finance Workshop or something regarding this or what's the next step The Next Step whatever you guys decide to do we
1:23:28
Chief of Staff James Valley° just you know from City standpoint we need to do something one we need to get the water department clear Direction on what we're going to do right CU we don't need to be tox ter up and down and all that because the while the rates you know we can change those I don't have any opposition to you changeing and low doing them mat tears but those other charges should remain that is they were put in there to encourage people to do what they've been doing to come on in and pay the bill whatever the bill is so you you implemented you may have gotten some grief about it but you implement you already had 10% late yart but you implemented a rebuilding fee we've been paying like overtime people working and it ain't a whole lot over time we still pay it for people working to get that second bill out uh and it doesn't go to every customer it goes only to the people who didn't pay on time right and so that's a a rebuilding fee of $15 for that and people Bing at that but it's avoidable it may not have been avoidable in the first month because they always pay late but next month you know they they decide they're gonna pay on time or pay $15 and and you got some stuff like that uh the new uh service charges you know they hadn't gone up in 20 25 years when when we adjusted them in 2005 or six we levelized them they didn't go up that's what I'm saying um and just from a historical standpoint I say this for benefit of all here Mr E can attest to this I ask that we increase our water and sanitation bill by $1 each in 2009 and people sitting around the council table said the city need to tighten it Bell so they didn't increase it and the next increase came in 2018 or 19 and so you know there's no there's never an appetite for raising fees it just ain't going to be there but you you constantly losing people so what's going to happen and most of the people we losing in this community going to Sunset and Jackson memoral and odd fellas in those places uh but we are losing some people who are moving away um but the longer you wait the more it's going to cost the people who are still here because you you divide you rate increase over the number of people who are using the service but you're not going to lose any of the land the pipes going to be just as long as they were you know all of that some of your costs are fixed and they're fixed high this community had 50,000 people in it at one point and now we got nine but we still got the same water system same SE system same [Music] streets
1:26:11
Unidentified yeah
1:26:14
Unidentified so I can um one of the reason I hadn't released this just to the general public because the number is not a number you all have chosen and so I put a number in and go in and get it it creates an expectation on their part that that's what they thing could be and I can put a disclaimer saying this is just for example but the customer won't be or the viewer won't be able to change the rates like I'm changing them they'll only be able to change the usage number and a calculate for them but they won't be able to go in and change the rat so it could be misleading in in in a sense it's not the actual numbers but I'll make whatever you tell me to make it available to them I make it available don't care which option you want be a BC D or I can make it available the general public can see it and maneuver the thing and see how it works up and down well I won't make B available B is what we charging now we know we're not going to charge that s causing that kind of an so from from Next Step standpoint it seems to me that the council's got to decide what kind of increment you want to move in and let's say your goal is to get up to where it needs to be in a year are you going to do that in four steps or two steps what but we need to that's kind of what we need to do and we also have that bond issue pending but it's it's it's somewhat depending on our rates the bond issue that's pending is for the the whale the current way so they call me and ask me what's going on with your rates that's all will just wait and see I do believe that we can still get the bond if you approve it and they give you a opportunity to have rates that meet what they expect within that time period cuz you the payback won't start for two years on the bond if you granted so you have some time to raise the uh the rates but
1:28:27
Unidentified question can you make that table available to all of the counil so that
1:28:33
Chief of Staff James Valley they can Tinker with it I can make it available to it's a Google sheet so they need a a a Gmail account and I can make it available to them and they can Tinker with it if they don't have that perhaps they can create one or somebody can share a generic Gmail account and I can give it that access again I I'll share it with whoever y'all tell me to share it with I think on the freedom information act right now it is it's kind of under investigation so we don't have to share it don't have to share with the general public but I can if that's what you said do just with that caveat that if it's not the numbers you've chosen it may cause a little confused
1:29:28
Unidentified what second you use Gmail sure do you use Gmail I prob tell them what I said you use Gmail email G Gmail Google Mail no I
1:29:41
Unidentified don't
1:29:44
Unidentified okay yes sir that's fine all right
1:29:50
Unidentified well I believe that's all we got then if you not going to take in action tonight we'll meet again in two weeks unless something else comes up oh the well uh Mr Rose gave you some report on that uh we were out there today they have run the conduit from The Well site to uh the wellsite at well 8 so as the electricity can be uh installed uh they came to tap the line so they can run the new water into the existing line and over Tri is just imp plant and there's a fitting that didn't work so it's being made in Texana we should get it they should get it back pretty soon and hopefully uh Mr Ro said next week uh they saying within the next two weeks so we we'll see uh all I say is you know we appreciate the work that they're doing and have done uh but of course they told us it'd be ready in four to six weeks and so we at uh week number six so times two or three so before leave tonight where are we as far as the bill so we we are going back to
1:30:59
Unidentified the ordinance that was passed
1:31:02
Unidentified correct we're going back to the the ordinance the ordinance that we passed last week is that what we're doing yeah
1:31:09
City Attorney Andre Valley° we the moratorium going back to
1:31:12
Chief of Staff James Valley° we're gonna put the new rates on hold yes that's my
1:31:17
Unidentified understanding
1:31:21
Unidentified um do we want to meet next week
1:31:26
Unidentified um I mean personally I do I don't want to I do I do I want to stay on I want to give everybody a chance to play with the different rates and options and then come back and talk about it um so I would like to um if everybody's available and willing to to just just meet next week dat um
1:31:59
Unidentified Tuesday I can't meet
1:32:11
Chief of Staff James Valley Tuesday we meeting next week perhaps there's a possibility that you take some action I mean I think if yeah well the why why I ask and why I'm saying it it's because you have to saying you erase the system Technically when you do it and so what we can probably do is have a a better message to the customers that we are going to adjust their bills to the old rate um but they won't be able to tell them what that is right now you understand what I'm saying but they're going to get the reduction but we kind of don't need to erase it this week and then come back and erase it next week
1:32:53
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) would it be safe to tell everybody pay what you paid last month that's what I
1:32:57
Unidentified told people pay what you paid last month we won't cut you off you know it all come out the wash that ought to be ballpark about what you know as long as usage did materially change that ought to be a good Ballpark and if they pay over and we make the adjustment that get the Creditor show that's what I told people ask and I I think that's the simplest way to do
1:33:30
Chief of Staff James Valley okay okay so we we're going to meet Tuesday the 17th and at this point it'll be just water yes sir now I prepared an
1:33:40
Unidentified ordinance that you all can look at but it had basically language that says you you going to will attach a schedule of the rates that's what the option AB BC D EF whatever and I think that's the better way to do it and then you we can and if you if anybody calls me or tells me try this I I can build a new table with that in it and call it let's say option whatever the next letter is Jeep or or or Cy's option or Toya's option or whatever so that we can present that because basically what I I want you all if you're comfortable with whatever you do cuz you got to make the choice and you need to be a to defend it and what I tell any council member is if it doesn't make sense to you at the table don't vote for it and you know that's that's the only pressure you got if it makes sense you should vote for if it doesn't then you don't I think that's the best way to proceed on all of these things I'm thinking that's it yes is
1:34:52
Unidentified that it we done okay move we
1:34:59
Unidentified turn to the for
How this page was made: built from the city's own meeting video (YouTube ↗) and its posted meeting packet (Drive folder ↗). Dollar figures are quoted from the documents; nothing here is paraphrased from memory. Corrections: cheekforhelena@gmail.com.