Agenda

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17.

City Council Regular Meeting

Meeting Date:

12/01/2020

BACKGROUND

Drive-up Kiosk
Effective October 1, 2020, the Utility Billing Department opened up the drive-up kiosk located next to the old drive-thru window on building one. Residents are now able to pay their utility bills using the new drive-up kiosk. The kiosk accepts cash (round to the nearest dollar), check/money order, and credit/debit card payments. When using the kiosk, residents can scan their bill, enter their account number, or search by last name/house number. The kiosk will provide a printed receipt, or an emailed or text copy of the receipt per the residents’ selection request.

The drive through window is still functional but will be closed for normal business. In events the kiosk is down or another special event, the window can be opened and staffed just as before.

Billing Cycle Change
The results from our staffing study supports reducing the number of billing cycles we currently have. The study suggested that with few utility billing cycles, Utility Billing employees will be able to manage the billing process more effectively and use the rest of the month to focus on handling customer inquiries, setting up new accounts, etc. The staffing study advised that the Department will gain an estimated 10% cumulative employee efficiency by reducing the read and cycle dates down to two each month.

Effective November 1,^,2020, the Utility Billing Department has successfully reduced the eight billing cycles to three billing cycles. We have received minimal complaints, and those residents who have questioned the change had a complete understanding. Our department will continue to work with residents and not penalize or disconnect services due to non-payment until after the first of the New Year 2021. This will allow residents to adjust to the new two billing cycles and make payment arrangements necessary to bring their account to a current balance.

Cycle 1 will now have a read date of the 1st of the month with a due date of the 25th and Cycle 2 will have a read date of the 15th of the month and have a due date of the following 10th.In the map attached cycle 1 is orange and cycle 2 is blue.

Attachments
New Cycle Map