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City Council - 02/17/1998 - Workshop APPROVED MINUTES CITY COUNCIL/STAFF WORKSHOP WATER CONSERVATION SURCHARGE TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1998 6:30 PM, HERITAGE ROOM IV 8080 Mitchell Road COUNCILMEMBERS: Mayor Jean Harris, Sherry Butcher-Younghans, Ronald Case, Ross Thorfinnson, Jr. and Nancy Tyra-Lukens CITY COUNCIL STAFF: City Manager Carl J. Jullie, Assistant City Manager Chris Enger, Director of Public Works Gene Dietz, and Council Recorder Jan Nelson ROLL CALL All members were present. I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER Mayor Harris called the meeting to order at 6:40 p.m. II. DISCUSSION ON CONTINUATION OF WATER CONSERVATION SURCHARGE Dietz said the majority of the calls they received last year dealt with the issue of whether the surcharge was fair. He reviewed the recommendations of the Environmental and Waste Management Commission: 1) raising the baseline to 24,000 gallons; 2) putting a $100 per quarter cap on the surcharge; and 3) establishing a $50,000 budget for public education. He said the Commission was strongly in support of the recommendations and voted 5-1, with the dissenting vote from a Commissioner who did not want a cap put on the surcharge. As part of the education process Dietz said they might be able to do personalized mailings to those people in the top bracket of usage and could fund Staff to work with home owners. Dietz then reviewed the statistical summaries of the surcharge based on 18,000 gallons per quarter and the recommended increase to 24,000 gallons. He said there would be some exclusions given for new lawns and similar special circumstances. Tyra-Lukens asked if all residents are on the same quarter. Dietz said they are not. Tyra-Lukens then asked if they will complain about that. Dietz said they probably will because the heaviest watering is usually done in July and August; however, it seems to work out. Tyra-Lukens asked if some residents could end up with two caps. Dietz said they could. CITY COUNCIL/STAFF WORKSHOP MINUTES February 17, 1998 Page 2 Dietz noted that 71% of the customers received no surcharge and, of the 29% that did receive a surcharge, 97% of those had a surcharge of$50 or less. Thorfinnson asked if we will continue to allow people to appeal the surcharge. Dietz said we would still have the same exemptions for new lawns and other anomalies and noted we have been quite generous in allowing exemptions. Thorfinnson asked what the conversation was regarding the placing of a cap. Dietz said he told the Commission it was better to plan ahead to cover the possibility of a dry year. After discussing several different figures for the cap, they compromised at $100. Thorfinnson thought bumping it to 24,000 makes sense. While it may not solve the dry year problem, it gives people more range. Dietz said the 18,000 gallon average in winter unfairly influences the rate for a number of empty-nesters, including townhomes with individual meters. He noted three people is probably the average household size. Harris said she struggles with what would happen in a dry year. We would have to make decisions about how to meet the needs if there were a very dry year. She was impressed that 71% of the people don't have a surcharge. She thought we are dealing with a very small number of people who may change their habits without a cap. She would rather have a high cap that could be reduced as it would be difficult to go the other way. Thorfinnson would rather see a higher cap as he was not sure the group that will receive a surcharge are likely to change their ways. Case said he wanted a cap; however, one of the key problems is that we are not really short on water and, with the new facility, are not short on pumping capacity. He struggles with how best to raise the level of consciousness so that we can get at the obnoxious users and not appear punitive to regular users. He thought there is an issue with what we are doing with the money collected because it sounds like a tax to residents. Dietz said the money went into the utility fund in the operating fund and will not go for capital costs. Case thought there still is a bit of a perception that it is another tax. He thought we might want to raise the amount to be used for educational purposes in order to further lower the usage. Butcher-Younghans thought we do need to lower the water usage. We have been spoiled by the idea of using as much water as we want. She believes we need to change our habits now and this is going to change behavior. Dietz noted we had a major reduction in the amount of water we pumped in 1997 because of the wet July. He said the Commission is concerned that the surcharge be kept in place for a long enough time to see if it makes a change in the behavior patterns. CITY COUNCIL/STAFF WORKSHOP MINUTES February 17, 1998 Page 3 Thorfinnson thought we might build into this the possibility that we could reopen the issue because of conditions in a particular year. Dietz said that would always be open to us. It would be in the fee resolution and we could make a change at that point. Thorfinnson said we would not have an idea at that point since the fee resolution is done in January. Case was concerned that we could have 20 people who could change the policy. We would listen to people that have the most anger. He thought we can head this off so that we are proactive and not in that defensive position. He likes the $100 cap and the 24,000 gallon base. Dietz noted whether we put in the cap or not we are still far ahead of other communities. Harris noted there is a lot of agreement on raising the baseline, nor is there a great deal of disagreement about a cap. Butcher-Younghans said she would be comfortable with a$150 cap. It would be high enough to make an impact but not so high that we will have 200 people at a City Council meeting protesting. A discussion followed regarding what the correct figure would be for the cap. The consensus was to leave the cap at$100 as the Commission recommended. Dietz that will give some comfort to the average user who doesn't come close to the surcharge. Dietz said he will bring a resolution adjusting the fee schedule to the next Council meeting. He noted that about 200 people attended the Environmental Fair on February 7. The Commission is going to work on amending the weed ordinance to allow native grasses. They are beginning to look at alternatives to lawns with high water requirements. They would like to meet with the Council and talk about some of those things in a strategy discussion. Harris was pleased with the direction the Commission has taken. They have been very assertive on difficult issues. III. OTHER BUSINESS IV. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Harris adjourned the meeting at 7:20 p.m.