JOINT CITY COUNCIL and UTILITY BILLING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 104 ROBINSON COURT ALEDO, TEXAS 76008 THURSDAYJANUARX25,2U24 5:00P.M. MEFTINGLOCATION: ALEDO COMMUNITY CENTER CALLREGULAR MEETINGTOORDER 1. CALLTO ORDER: a. City Council Mayor Nick Stanley called the Special Joint Meeting oft the Aledo City Council to order at 5:03 p.m. Those in attendance att this meeting were Mayor Nick Stanley, Mayor Pro Tem Nelson Rowls, City Council member Shane Davis, City Council member Shawna Ford and City Council member Summer Jones creating a quorum ofCity Council: members. Staff present for this meeting were, City Manager Noah Simon, City Attorney Alicia Kreh, Finance Manager Jennifer Garrett, Communications and Engagement Manager Whitney Walters, Public Works Director Luis Gatica, Utility Billing Manager Blythe Reeves, City Planner Ivan Gonzalez and City Secretary Deana McMullen. b. Utility Billing Advisory Committee Chairman ofUtility Billing Advisory Board Susan Nickell called the Utility Billing Advisory board meeting to order at 5:08 pm with the following members present, Chairman Susan Nickell, Member Michael Handley and Member Ben Clark creating a gourum oft the Utility Billing Advisory Board. 2. - CITIZEN APPEARANCES: This is an opportunity for citizens to address the City Council on any agenda item not listed for public hearing or any matter not posted on the agenda. This is the citizens' only opportunity to address the City Council on agenda items not listed for public hearing. Individual citizen comments are normally limited to three (3) minutes; however, time limits can be adjusted by the presiding officer. Time is not transferable. Thej presiding officer may ask the citizen to hold their comment on an agenda item ift the item is posted as a Public Hearing. The City Council cannot by law take any action nor have any discussion or deliberations on any presentation made at this time concerning an item notl listed on the agenda. The City Council will: receive the information, and ask the City Manager toi review the matter, or an item may benoticed on a future agenda for deliberation or action. Please sign in before the start of the meeting and provide the paper to the City Secretary. There were no Citizens Appearances for this meeting. 3. PRESENTATIONS ANDDISCUSSION: a. Presentation by Kara Shuror, Brio Consulting and discussion on: findings to date on the City'sUtility Billing Audit. Ms. Kara Shuror of Brio Consulting gave a presentation of the findings to date on1 the City's Utility Billing Audit. Ms. Shuror stated that she spent time with the Utility Billing Staff as well as the Public Works staff event going out with them to do meter readings. They checked three (3) routes in system and compared the hand written readings to the readings actually entered and made sure that the multipliers were done correctly as well. They found that no systemic or chronic billing issues werei identified. The mistakes that were: made were primarily human error. Fieldi meter readings were accurately executed. Of the errors found there was an underbilling of$1,500 ini regards to1 the application of the sewer bill. The sewer bill uses a cap. We met with staff and they are committed to improvement and changes. We have discussed redoing the billing format sO that it is easier to change. We need to consider adding billing cycles and it would be significantly easier for staff. New: meters have a life span ofup to ten years. The change out program will begin in about 6years and willl happen at a 1/3 at a time. One question that came up is why was the contract that we went with different than the pilot program. Answeri is that the pilot program was to test the signals to make sure that the meters are able to read them. The company we went with has brass meters rather than plastic which are more durable and the cost was Iess. b. Presentation by Jessica Brown, Freese and Nichols and discussion on1 thej pressure testing conducted as part ofthe Utility Billing Audit. Freese & Nichols Engineer Jessica Brown was present at this meeting to give a discussion regarding pressure testing being done as part of the Utility Billing Audit. Ms. Brown stated that the pressure testing data did: not show anything out oft the norm. Someone moving from a lower elevation to al higher elevation will use more water. Parks of Aledo is a higher elevation with a low 701 to low 901 PSI range. Someone coming here from an elevation of 70-80 psi range would most likely be using more water than they realize. Ifs someone thinks this could be an issue they can get a licensed irrigation provider and have them check and reset their system based on your individual needs. No action was taken on this item. 4. CONSENT AGENDA: Alli items listed below are considered routine by the Utility Billing Advisory Committee and will be enacted with one motion. There will be no separate discussion ofi items unless a Committee Member requests, in which event the item will be removed from the general order of business and considered in its normal sequence. Approval oft the Consent Agenda authorizes the City Manager to implement each item in a. Consider approval of the Utility Billing Advisory Committee meeting minutes accordance with the staffrecommendation. from the following meeting: November 30, 2023, Utility Billing Advisory Committee Meeting. Motion was made by Committee member Michael Hadley, seconded by Committee: member Ben Clark to approve the minutes oft thel November 30, 2023, Utility Billing Advisory Committee meeting as read. Motion carried 3-0 5. ADJOURN With there being nothing further to discuss or consider Chairman Susan Nickell Mayor Nick Stanley adjourned the Special meeting ofthe Aledo City Council at 5:55 PASSED AND APPROVED THIS THepel DAYOF abraary,n adjourned the Utility Billing Advisory Committee at 5:55 pm. p.m. Nick ATTEST: aa A4Ode Déana McMullen, City Secretary