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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-02-04 CITIZENS UTILITY BILLING REVIEW AD HOC ADVISORY COMMITEE MEETING MINUTESMINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITIZENS UTILITY BILLING REVIEW ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF PEARLAND, TEXAS, HELD ON THURSDAY, February 4, 2021, VIA TELEPHONENIDEO CONFERENCE AT 4:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Saboe called the meeting to order at 4:02 p.m. ROLL CALL AND CERTIFICATION OF QUORUM; Mayor Kevin Cole Chairman Steve Saboe Committee Member Jimmy Davis Committee Member Denise Hewitt Committee Member Ralph King Committee Member Julie Ward Committee Member Patrick O'Day Committee Member Jennifer Sheffield Committee Member Mark Smith Raftelis Consultant Josh Rauch Raftelis Consultant Seth Garrison Director of Communications Joshua Lee Interim Finance Director John McCarter Utility Billing Manager Nancy Massey Utility Billing Assistant Manager Dara Eng CONSENT AGENDA; I. Approval of February 1, 2021 Minutes: Chairman Stephen Saboe Upon motion by Committee Member Ralph King, seconded by Committee Member Julie Ward, after full discussion and the question being put to the Committee, the Advisory Committee voted unanimously to approve the minutes of February 1, 2021. Vice -Chairman Denise Hewitt recommended minor amendment to the minutes to reflect the appointed titles as followed: i. Committee Member Ralph King as Technical SME. ii. Committee Member Patrick O'Day as Scope. iii. Committee Member Julie Ward as Financial. There were no other amendment suggestions to the minutes held on February 1, 2021. II. Input, Discussion, and Possible Action; Vice -Chairman Denise Hewitt recognized Seth Garrison who presented to and reviewed the recommendations provided in the Raftelis Report. a. Agreed, already underway i. Recommendation 1: Foster a culture of engagement and continuous improvement Committee Member Ralph King expressed concerns regarding the department's lack of creating continuous improvement for customers' concerns. Mr. King stated the issues approached by customers are usually corrected case by case and suggested the department use each scenario as an opportunity to create a continuous improvement process. Mr. Garrison assured Committee Member Ralph King the department's new manager, Nancy Massey, is currently in the process of revamping the structure of the department's culture and maintaining a customer centric goal. Committee Member Jennifer Sheffield added the breakdown of the recommendation's resolution are provided in the report. ii. Recommendation 2: Establish formal performance measures to track service delivery. Mr. Garrison reviewed the recommendation for performance measures and stated the report provides details of what a performance tracker includes. Mr. Garrison reported the examples of benchmarks and metrics by AWWA and Tyler Technology are provided in the report. iii. Recommendation 3: Review and update written standard operating procedures (SOPs) regularly. Mr. Garrison discussed standard operating procedures would need to be updated regularly and provided a list of what the documents should include in the Raftelis report. Interim Director John McCarter provided an example of the updated SOP and discussed the ongoing commitment to centralize all Utility Billing SOPs in a shared drive. Discussion ensued. Committee Member Ralph King suggested the department include an SOP for Management of Change as a proactive step for future impacts resulted by leadership change. iv. Recommendation 4: Mr. Garrison discussed the recommendation to develop an enhanced training program. v. Recommendation 7: Mr. Garrison discussed the recommendation to synchronize meter reading and billing cycles vi. Recommendation 13: Mr. Garrison discussed the recommendation to adjust staffing to reflect short-term needs and prepare for AMI implementation. 1. Project Plan in place for start of AMI. See III. vii. Recommendation 15: Mr. Garrison discussed the recommendation to create an inclusive AMI Implementation Team Chairman Saboe suggested the Committee prepare their list of responses to the Raftelis report to be discussed at the next meeting. No decision was made on the Raftelis Report. b. Agreed, with caveats; There was no discussion or decision made on this item. i. Recommendation 5: Improve external communication plans for meter -to - cash activities. ii. Recommendation 8: Implement a streamlined meter -to -cash process. iii. Recommendation 11: Create designated morning and afternoon call - takers to streamline CSR workload. iv. Recommendation 16: Continue engaging Tyler Technologies to resolve inefficiencies and errors in New World. Utility Billing Advisory Committee Regular February 5, 2021 Meeting Minutes c. No Opinion Put Forth; There was no discussion or decision made on this item. i. Recommendation 9: Reorder billing cycles ii. Recommendation 12: Transition to a centralized staffing structure over time. d. Input, Discussion, and Possible Action; There was no discussion or decision made on this item. e. Disagree; There was no discussion or decision made on this item. i. Recommendation 10: Enhance delinquent account communications ii. Recommendation 14: Pilot a 4-10 schedule for meter -to -cash staff. f. No Opinion Put Forth; There was no discussion or decision made on this item. i. Recommendation 6: Consider alternative options to the 32-30 Plan. Chairman Saboe suggested the Committee prepare their list of responses to the Raftelis report to be discussed at the next meeting along with providing feedback or recommendations for action items/logs for Vice Chairman Denise Hewitt to capture. III. Input, Discussion, and Possible Action; Provide additional recommendations to the City Council, as they apply to the Utility Billing systems, processes and infrastructure that may not be captured in the Raftelis Report. IV. Input, Discussion, and Possible Action: Committee member Jimmy Davis proposed the committee meetings to be accessible to the Public either in person or via a live web link, instead of the current recorded format required by the Charter. Vice Chairman Denise Hewitt suggested the Committee keep devices off or away to prevent distraction during held meetings. Discussion ensued. There was no vote on this item. V. Input, Discussion, and Possible Action: Information requests, set next meeting goals, date/time and agenda. Chairman Saboe suggested a weekly email or text to inform customers of their current weekly usage and projected bill usage, similar to current electric company's communications. Chairman Saboe moved the continued discussion on the Raftelis' report for the Advisory Committee meeting to be held on Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at p.m. ADJOURNMENT Meeting was adjourned at 6:17 p.m. Utility Billing Advisory Committee Regular February 5, 2021 Meeting Minutes