City Council Minutes 2014 03 11 SP

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City Council Special Meeting Minutes March 11, 2014 Page 9 of 11 structure; new construction and whether the existing tap fee structure encourages and recognizes water - efficient construction and irrigation designs, which may save water in the future. He stated those items were not included in the presentation, but would be in the final report. COUNCIL REQUESTS Request for the following three tables: 1) Percent used by class on an average month; 2) Percent used by class on a maximum month and 3) The Percent expected on an allocation of water rights purchase for system development. COUNCIL DIRECTION: Council member Loo voiced her support for equity across all classes; not spending a lot of money on water budgets; public educational programs and water conservation messages on the water bill; and a less complex way to approach billing. She did not know how to address the inequities in the commercial classes, but requested more input from the commercial users. She favored the wastewater AWC approach, but wanted more detail on the committee recommendations and continued study on the system development charges. She wanted to treat people fairly. Mayor Pro Tem Dalton concurred. Mayor Muckle supported the smoothing approach, but was interested in maintaining reserves. He also wanted to treat people equitably. He was somewhat interested in the residential water budgeting only. He supported the wastewater strategy, which was tied to the water consumption. Council member Stolzmann was not totally supportive of the smoothing approach. She felt it would charge residents for something not needed at this time. She stated it is important to post the data the Task Force received on the City's Web Page. She stated Council can mitigate the rate increases by looking at what projects are funded and the timing of the project. Council member Lipton addressed the slide, which indicated a 35% water loss and asked if the City is looking at investments to improve on the losses. Public Works Director Kowar stated 20 - 25% of the loss is from ditch and reservoir losses and 15% is from the distribution system. The City does leak detection annually and will start performing water audits in the future. Council member Lipton stated the rate discussion is important and must be explained to the residents. He supported the smoothing method and all the other measures, but viewed the water budget project as a low priority. He thanked the Task Force members.