PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO CHAPTER 33 - WATER, SEWERS AND SEWAGE DISPOSAL IN ITS ENTIRETY AND CHAPTER 2 - ADMINISTRATION, ARTICLES I AND V
Staff Contact and Presenter: Vicki Rios, Director, Budget and Finance
Staff Contact and Presenter: Craig Johnson, P.E., Director, Water Services
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Purpose and Policy Guidance
Recommendation
This is a request for City Council to discuss and provide guidance regarding proposed amendments to Glendale City Code, Chapter 33-Water, Sewers and Sewage Disposal in its entirety and Chapter 2-Administration Articles I and V. Specifically, staff is requesting direction on pursuing amendments to both chapters which would address numerous items found during a comprehensive code review.
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Background
Staff from Budget and Finance, Water Services, and the City Attorney’s Office have completed a comprehensive review of Chapter 33 of the City Code. Although revisions to Chapter 33 have been made throughout the years, the last comprehensive review by staff was conducted in 1983. In addition, staff reviewed the provisions of certain sections of Chapter 2 related to debt collection and management of the City’s warehouse.
The purpose of the comprehensive review of the Code was to determine if any revisions are needed in order to: (1) comply with changes to State and federal law; (2) adopt current practices commonly employed by the utility, customer service, and finance operations in other municipalities across the Phoenix metropolitan area; and (3) memorialize the City’s existing best practices for those customer services. Additionally, the need for review and possible revision of Chapter 2 was identified as part of a citywide internal audit of procurement and warehousing operations.
Analysis
During the Code review, staff identified the following items:
Chapter 33-Water, Sewers, and Sewage Disposal
1) Current Code does not establish the documentation requirements for new customer account set-up. Current practice is to ask customers for identifying information for billing and collection purposes but the Code does not specify what type of information may be requested.
2) Current Code does not clearly allow for proration of base charges in the event a bill is issued outside the standard billing period. Current practice is to prorate base charges for partial billing periods.
3) Current Code does not give the City discretion and authority to adjust the amount billed to a customer as a result of errors, omissions, unusual usage, and or other extraordinary circumstances. Prior to 2013, City staff frequently worked with customers to adjust their bill to a lower billing rate if there were unusual or mitigating circumstances, such as latent leaks on the customer’s property, which caused the bill to be unusually high for a single billing cycle or short period of time. This practice was suspended when it was determined that Code did not give staff the authority to administratively adjust or waive fees in exceptional cases. Proposed Code amendments would give staff the authority to make these adjustments administratively.
4) Current Code does not provide a timeline for disputing a final bill or for raising disputes on any monthly bill before the final one is issued to the Customer. The amendments provide a process and timeline for how all billing disputes are raised and resolved. Code revisions are required to update the dispute resolution procedures.
5) Provisions for termination of water or sewer service for nonpayment currently exist in two different parts of Chapter 33. Staff proposes consolidating the two existing sections to make it easier for customers to find and understand when the City may terminate their water and/or sewer service.
6) Just like the Code does not currently provide discretion to waive or adjust certain fees, the Code does not allow staff to exercise discretion to postpone or defer service termination and disconnection or allow resumption of service and reconnections on a case-by-case basis in extraordinary circumstances. Proposed Code changes would allow staff to develop and implement criteria for taking such discretionary actions.
7) Current City Code states that balances from any prior occupant must be paid before new water or sewer service can be established at any property. With the passage of House Bill (HB) 2193 in 2011, municipalities can no longer require outstanding balances to be paid in full before water services are restored to a residential property of four or fewer units if the customer requesting the new service did not previously have service in his/her name at that address. The current Code provisions must be amended to be consistent with State law regarding the payment of unpaid balances for residential properties.
8) Outstanding balances on commercial properties may be treated differently under State law. Current City Code provisions require balances from prior occupants must be paid in full prior to turning on water and/or sewer services at commercial properties and residential properties of five units or more (generally, apartment and condominium complexes). Staff is seeking Council direction on whether to require new tenants or occupants of commercial properties to pay outstanding balances left on a previous customer’s account prior to turning on water and/or sewer services to that property. Foregoing these payments may have a financial impact on the City.
9) Current Code refers to specific City job titles such as the Utilities Director, the Finance Director, etc. Staff proposes to amend the Code and remove reference to specific job titles. This is consistent with other Chapters in the City Code. Generic references to the City or the addition of language allowing delegation to other managers or successor departments allows for responsibilities to be administratively reassigned without a subsequent amendment of the Code.
10) Current Code does not clearly identify unlawful utility activities or establish consequences for customers if they interfere with any City employees in discharging their duties or if they tamper with system infrastructure. Code revisions would notify potential violators that such interference, tampering or damage will be treated as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
11) Current City Code only provides who (City Manager or Council) can declare or terminate a drought stage designation. It does not provide who has the authority to implement the drought management plan, conduct public outreach and take enforcement actions. That authority is granted to the City Manager in the proposed Code amendments.
12) Current Code does not clearly establish the owner’s responsibility for the sewer connection and maintenance. A code amendment is needed to align with current practice.
13) Rates and fees for water and sewer services are established piecemeal throughout various Code sections. Staff proposes placing all of the fees in one consolidated table to be adopted as an appendix to the City Code, similar to the provisions for zoning. Organizing water and sewer fees in this manner will not add or change fees, but rather it would eliminate the patchwork nature of those fees and make it easier for customers and staff to find the various fees in one location.
Chapter 2-Administration
1) Current Code does not give City staff the discretion to abate fees or taxes in any amounts, even in cases where a customer may offer a reasonable amount to settle the debt or the amounts being sought by the City are less than the costs the City would incur to collect them. Code revisions would be necessary to give authority to staff to settle certain types of collection accounts in certain amounts.
2) Current Code gives the responsibility for the management of the City’s warehouse to the Materials Manager. In the current organization structure, the warehouse is actually overseen by the Water Services Department and the duties of the warehouse personnel are not clearly defined. Code revisions would be needed to clearly delineate the responsibilities of the warehouse personnel and distinguish them from the responsibilities of the Materials Manager.
3) Current Code refers to a “warehouse revolving fund” but, in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, the inventory is actually maintained in a general fund asset account.
Previous Related Council Action
On January 14, 2014, City Council amended Glendale City Code, Chapter 33, increasing the voluntary donation amount added to a user’s bill to two dollars ($2.00).
On October 11, 2011, City Council amended Glendale City Code, Chapter 33 adding Article VI, Storm Water Pollution Control.
On April 12, 2011, City Council amended Glendale City Code, Chapter 33, increasing the deposit for new residential and commercial accounts for water, sewer, and sanitation services.
Community Benefit/Public Involvement
Periodic review and revision of the City Code provides Council with the opportunity to review and give staff guidance on policies. It also ensures that the information contained in the Code is clear and aligns with best practices for City operations.
Budget and Financial Impacts
De Minimis. If Council gives City senior management the discretion and authority to “write off” or “write down” certain collection accounts, the City will not be recovering the amounts it is owed. Staff believes this amount is nominal and would be counter-balanced or outweighed by the savings in litigation and collection fees and costs.