11/05/2007-CC-Minutes-Work SessionMINUTES: City Council Workshop
November 5, 2007
PRESENT: Mayor Joe Higgs, Councilman Glenn Ervin, Councilman Andy Garza,
Councilman Robert Patton, Councilman Mike Walker, Councilman Thomas
Muir
OTHERS
PRESENT: City Manager Mike Brice, City Secretary/Asst. City Manager Rose Chavez, Bill
Fuller, John Baines
1. Call Meeting to Order.
Mayor called meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
2. Discussion of Progress on Installation of New Utility Poles.
City Manager indicated that Councilman Walker had inquired on the progress
concerning the installation of the utility poles. City Manager advised that this project
is about 85% completed. The contractor's time limit was extended back in the summer
to the end of December. The contractor feels that they will complete the project by then
without any problem. There are a lot of poles that have been laying in ditches all
during the summer. He advised Council that if they get a call concerning a pole laying
down and the resident would like to have it moved, they can call him and he will have
it moved until the contractor is ready to install.
Councilman Walker indicated his main reason for asking on the progress was that he
had not seen the contractor's working.
City Manager advised that they were working down the alleys in certain residential
areas and hopes they wiI1 have the project completed by the end of the year.
3. Presentation by John Baines, CPA, on the Utility Bill Study.
Mr. Baines, CPA, gave a presentation concerning the Utility Audit.
Mr. Baines advised that his presentation included a section on general information, a
section on focus, and a section on sampling, the neighborhoods and addresses that were
chosen in the survey. Mr. Baines audit included the years from October 2003 thru
March 2007 which will include the period in question and the spending. The
temperatures were also included during this time period and the impact it had on those
customers and the neighborhoods.
In the sampling of homes they used an average for each of the neighborhoods rather
than an analysis of 50 different homes for fall and winter months. The eight
neighborhoods chosen included electric only customers, electric and gas customers, and
commercial businesses. Mr. Baines' presentation included the dollars spent for the
years October 2003 thru March 2004, October 2004 thru March 2005, October 2005
thru March 2006, October 2006 thru March 2007 and the comparisons.
Mr. Baines indicated that he had addressed the line loss in a prior council meeting.
At that meeting the Council decided that the city's line loss did not warrant any
further investigation, which averaged 4% compared to other communities with larger
line loss.
Mr. Baines continued with his presentation of comparisons of the different
neighborhoods, the commercial spending, the highest month for spending and the
temperatures.
Councilman Patton expressed a concern in including the homes on Holt Rd. since
there were only two households in the sampling. He did not know if it could be
classified as a neighborhood and if there was any logic including those households.
Mr. Baines indicated that even if you take those two homes out of the comparison, it
would still show that the all electric homes had the higher spending since it is based on
averages.
Discussion concerning the billings, and line loss in a three-year period.
Councilman Walker inquired if the study proved that an all electric house is less
efficient to heat than a gas home.
Mr. Baines indicated that utility customers will not spend as much on electricity
heating a dual home as an all electric home.
Councilman Walker asked if a gas fire system is more efficient than heating a home
with electricity.
Mr. Baines advised that a comparison was not done with gas bills. He emphasized that
if there were not any complaints about the gas bills during this time period then it was
primarily with the all electric community.
Councilman Walker advised he is looking at the trend, which in the summertime the
all electric house is less expensive to cool.
Mr. Baines agreed with Councilman Walker.
Councilman Patton indicated that they had come to Mr. Baines to get some
information to explain to the citizens concerning the unexplained high bills. His
question to Mr. Baines was, after the completion of this study, are they to assume, and
not considering the line loss, that it was purely consumption.
Mr. Baines indicated that it was and the all electric communities used more electricity during
that time compared to the other segments of the communities.
Councilman Muir indicated that the Council talked about implementing a change in the billing
procedure to match up with billings from Brazos.
Mr. Baines suggested to Council to possibly have a surplus fund to help when the City has a
lot of usage to offset those bills. He advised that the City of Denton has this in place.
Councilman Muir expressed a concern since this would not benefit those who spend the money
to get an efficient home with the extra installation etc. This will only help those people who
did not spend the extra money to make their home more efficient. He did not feel it was fair.
Mr. Baines indicated he did not know if that was fair, but they can look at other communities
and see how it is addressed.
Councilman Garza indicated that it is amazing that there was not an outcry with the bills in
the hot months of October 2005, but it was an outcry with the winter months of 2006 and 2007.
Mr. Baines indicated it has not been that cold in a long time.
Brief discussion concerning the citizens who were in attendance at the council meeting
concerning the high bills. Some of those residents were in a fairly new subdivision with all
electric homes and this was their first year experiencing such low temperatures.
(Note: there were some corrections that Council noted on the report. Mr. Baines advised he
would make the corrections and bring updated copies to staff).
4. General Discussion
There was not any further discussion
5. Adjournment.
Mayor adjourned the work session.
Joel�iggs'
Mayor
ATTEST:
Rosalie Chavez
City Secretary/Assistant City Manager