Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 05-08-2007 regular agenda — reading text

Property with direct discharge to surface waters or wetlands II Credits for Best Management Practices ( BMPs) II Appeals procedures for settling disputes Credit Policy Courts and utility oversight agencies have ruled thaUo be c.onsidered a user fee, there must be a credit policy tied to the cost pfservicsmp<1: cted. Earth Tech will provide guidelines and suggestions for devloping<:1legaHyd~ fensible credit policy consistent with credit policies from other utiliU~ S<:1ndprec~ dence set by past legal/ administrative findings for credits for privatelyconstrLJcted. and maintained BMPs. Adjustments may also be required to equitably allocate costs to customers that might not receive all of the services that are provided by the utility. This might be the resLJlt of their geographic location, as in the case of the area of Fort Walton Beach near the Fort Walton Beach Municipal Golf Course. In a number of communities the fees for riparian properties, directly adjacent to a water body, were reduced to account for the fact that the customers were not using the commLJnity' sstormwater management system. However, in Fort Walton Beach, the uncontrplleddischarge of stormwater in waterways, canals and beaches is of greatestcpncern and may serve as justification of a higher rate unless BMPs are put into place by the property owner.  Engineering/Consulting Services, Stormwater Utility Study, RFP 07- 113 Task 4.0 Master Database Development 4. 1 Alternative Billing Earth Tech will review how the City is utilizing the. mOQules of the City' s HTI;/A$ 400billirtg system and discuss with the staffJheoptionsof how to set up Billing Options: thestormwatercharge. We would propose documenting the other billing options II Appending to th~ isting utility bill e)( availablEtfor. completeness and to validate the decision to use the existing billing II AppendingtQ the prop~ bill rtyta)( systemfor thestormwater charges. The evaluationWillJncludearrassessment of II Creating a new stand- alone system the legal and technical ( hardware and software) chaUenges. foradding the stormwater charge to the existing system and which would be recommended should a regional utility be formed. Develop Billing Policies The HTE systems, which Earth Tech has worked with, are very powerful and. flexible software, capable of performing a number of municipal functions. Each function buildirt9lnspection, professional licensing, utility customer billing ( CX), etc.) is a database that is linked to a central parcel ( LX)>database, At issue is how compatible will the stormwater utility customer billing information be with the file structures and formats of the City' s LX and CX databases. Earth Tech will guide the City through the development of billing policies for the stormwater utility. There are four standard issues thatneEJd to be resolved every time we set up a new stormwater utility billing system. ...The first is whether the stormwater fee is mailed to and paid by the ownerofthEJ proPerty or thEJ existing utility customer. If the existing utility customer is usedthEJntheprocess of adding the stormwater fee is simply adding a new service to the accounts in the CX database. If the bill is sent to the owner, it may be nEJcessaryfor HTE to add a second customer database ( CX). Second, regarQlessQfwhoiWill bEJ responsible for the bill, there will be some number of customEJrsthatwillreceive a bill for only stormwater services. This will require adding information to both the LX ( parcel) database as well as the CX customer databasEJ. Third, will the stormwater charges be part of the existing utility bill or a stand- alone bill? If it is to be a separate pill, the question is whether the City' s existing equipment can handle the additional. work load or will printing and mailing have to be contracted to a third party? . Lastly, is what to do with all of the supporting data that is generated as part of developing the customer billing file for the stormwater utility? Can it be stored in the files in the LX and CX databases, or must some of it be maintained in another database, such as the City' s GIS?  Engineering/ Consulting Services, Stormwater Utility Study, RFP 07- 113 4.3 Temporary Billing Data Temporary database will be developed from assessor, utility, and GIS data systems, These files will contain all data requirecLforthestormwater utility billing system, EC:I'rth Tech will establish data management quality control procedures to monitor the development of the utility accounts. 4.4 and Accounts It is assUmed that the City' s existing HTE utility bUlinQsystem wiB be used to bill the stormwater fee, Earth Tech will first match the Assessor data to each of the existingvvaterlsewer utility accounts, The combineqfilewillthen be integrated with Earth Tech' s GIS stormwater utility data file, stormwater charges for parcels that have more. than one utility account ( Le, are not master metered) will be allocated to each utility account based on policies developed with the City. 4. 5 Integration of Stormwater Utility Data File Earth Tech will coordinate with the utilities' data prOcessinQ manager( S) on proper procequres to schedule the transfer of data fromECI:'rth Tech' s customer billing dat bC:l'se, This task will include at least three contacts. The first will establish generaL protocols for file structure and format at theibeginningof the project. The second wil L test the transfer routines and theithirdwill. be. toturn over the final cornpletdC:'ltabC:' lse. Earth Tech will provide a data dictionary that lists all of the data fields contained in the stormwater utility customer billing database, 4. 6 Policies and Procedures Manual Earth Tech will work with staff to identify the best process <for maintaining the customer billing file, This includes a discussion on where the database will reside, what data will be maintained, and the individual or inqividualsresponsible for keeping the information current. This may be ( and. Qftenis) different from the software used for billing and accounting purposes, E;: C:'IrthTecwilrev w policies and procedures currently in use with staff, such. as building permit approvals, staffing requirements, and addition/ deletion of utIlityaGcounts, Procedures will be suggesteq as to how new customers will be identified, hoW the database would be populateq with the necessary information, and howbillingrnightbe triggered at the appropriate time. Earth Tech will summarize the policies and procedures necessary to administer the stormwater utility program and maintain the customer- billing file in a training manual. Task 5. 0 Public Outreach Objective: Public involvement and public education is key to the successful implementation of a stormwater utility, There are a number of possible activities and tools that we could use and that we have used to get our message in front of the target audiences. At a minimum, a brochure and three additional printed pieces in the local newspaper, or envelope stuffers seem to be what most communities can afford and feel comfortable with. At the core of our public  Engineering/Consulting Services, Stormwater Utility Study, RFP 07- 113 outregchprogrgmare the activities that put yourmefSsageJndirect contact with your gl,ldience. 1nforrn them of the problem, inform them of the solution, and inform them ofthesuccesses along the way and into the future. As de.scribed < below, the public outreach program will include community intervieV\sandsevral public meetings. Earth Tech plans to include several local residentfSof Fort Wglton Beach) Earth Tech staff members on this project team. The 10cgLknowledgeshould prove useful in gaining the mostinformation possible out ofthecommunity interviews. Similarly, having local residents present during the presentgtioDS and public discussions, rather thg9 hgVingistrangers show up and risk the perception of strong arming the citizenry, should help maintain a high level of effective communication. Possible Activities and Tools Ii Speakers' Circuit 5. 1 Material II Brochures and Other Printed Materials Project Website Earth Tech will prepare a camera- readY Informational Giveaways brochl.refor . the..stormwater utility and three additional pieces in the local printed Project Updates newfSpgper, orenvelope stuffers. This task Program LogQ and " Tag Line woyldinvolveplgnning, writing, designing anq Photo Gallery lic information piece that producinggpUl;> cOl.l d Media Kit be in any variety of formats ( e. g., brochl.re, Flyers and Fact Sheets. flyer, newfSletter, fact sheet, news releafSe, Video, Interactive CD, Flash or 3- D perfSonal correspondence), depending on Animation preferences expressed by community mempers quriDg the interviews. We are Children and Young Adult Activities assuming a four- page, 8% x11, two- color direct Meetings mail brochure, with two illustrations. Meeting Minutes