City Council Meetings

MOSES LAKE CITY COUNCIL – SPECIAL MEETING February 6, 2024 CALL TO ORDER The special meeting of the Moses Lake City Council was called to order at 11:34 a.m. by Mayor Swartz in the Council Chambers of the Civic Center. ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Swartz; Deputy Mayor Madewell; Council Members Skaug, Lombardi, Martinez, and Myers. Council Member Fancher was absent. WATER STUDY SESSION Jessica Cole, Utility Services Manager, gave a presentation on the following: • Tiered Water Rate • Excessive Water Usage • After Hour Delinquent Water Turn-ons • Water System Comprehensive Plan Goals • Rate Study in 2025 • Commercial Flat Rate Sewer She explained the current tiered water structure and proposed three new models with a fourth tier added, went over a map of excessive water use by location, and model rate billing examples. Next, an excessive use charge was proposed. It was explained that this revenue specifically can be earmarked for certain uses such as: water treatment, source, conservation, and rebate programs. There were two fees proposed - $100 for over 5,000 cubic feet and $250 for over 10,000 cubic feet. Additionally, there would be a credit back to accounts if it was discovered that there was a leak. An analysis was completed on 14 different residences, five odd and nine even addresses, across the city using the Beacon software. The analysis showed that cutting just eight minutes of watering per day put the usage at less than 3,000 cubic feet for some of the residences, which is the future goal. The cost for an after-hours water turn-on is $275. Currently, the city only charges customers $100 for these after-hours events. Staff is requesting that the on-call turn-ons for delinquent customers be stopped. Emergency turn-ons would not be affected by this change. There was Council consensus for this change to be made. For the Water System Comprehensive Plan goals, there were two main objectives: 1. Reduce residential water use by 20% for the highest 30% of users over the next 10 years. 2. Reduce distribution system leakage (DSL) to less than 10% over the next 10 years. Document Ref: RAA7U-PKK2E-4CPP8-9VXFR Page 1 of 2  Tiered rates, excess use charges and an eye on water will all play a vital role in the City achieving these goals. In 2025, staff will be budgeting for a water-sewer rate study to be completed. It will take 6-12 months to complete a full study and the focus will be on cost of service, conservation goals, and special rates for commercial and industrial users. There is currently a group of commercial customers that receive flat rate sewer charges based on average winter water consumption. There are no tiered rates for this group or incentives to conserve and they have unrestricted use for irrigating without the increased costs applied to irrigation and residential user classes. Council directed staff to move forward with drafting an ordinance and fee code resolution using the consumption allowance and rates proposed in Model 2 but requested that the rate for Tier 4 be lowered to $3.75/100 CF. They also requested an excessive use fee for those customers at over 10,000 CF be applied and earmarked for conservation, changing from potable water use to lake water for irrigation, and education. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 1:37 p.m. ______________________________________ Dustin Swartz, Mayor ATTEST____________________________ Debbie Burke, City Clerk Document Ref: RAA7U-PKK2E-4CPP8-9VXFR Page 2 of 2 Signature Certificate Reference number: RAA7U-PKK2E-4CPP8-9VXFR Signer Timestamp Signature Mayor Dustin Swartz Email: dswartz@cityofml.com Sent: 28 Feb 2024 23:34:53 UTC Viewed: 28 Feb 2024 23:35:49 UTC Signed: 04 Mar 2024 20:01:03 UTC Recipient Verification: IP address: 74.82.240.250 ✔Email verified 28 Feb 2024 23:35:49 UTC Location: Mattawa, United States Debbie Burke Email: dburke@cityofml.com Sent: 28 Feb 2024 23:34:53 UTC Viewed: 29 Feb 2024 18:28:23 UTC Signed: 04 Mar 2024 22:17:34 UTC Recipient Verification: IP address: 63.135.54.162 ✔Email verified 29 Feb 2024 18:28:23 UTC Location: Moses Lake, United States Document completed by all parties on: 04 Mar 2024 22:17:34 UTC Page 1 of 1 Signed with PandaDoc PandaDoc is a document workflow and certified eSignature solution trusted by 50,000+ companies worldwide.