6.1.b. ERMUSR 12-16-2014 Elk River
Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Theresa Slominski—Finance and Office Manager
John Dietz—Chair
Al Nadeau—Vice Chair
Daryl Thompson—Trustee
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
December 16, 2014 6.1b
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
DISCUSSION:
We had 2,550 credit card payment transactions in November, compared to 2,875 in October.
(October's activity is usually higher as the cold weather rules take effect and customers make
payments to become current on their accounts.) The fee for November should be $5,737.50.
An update on the software conversion:
• Scenario Training went well the week of December 1st through the 5th. This was a
hands-on training in the new software specific to calls and front counter
interaction with customers. Staff was able to see how customer transactions are
processed in the new software, and then"practice"these transactions. It is very
different from our current processes and will result in major changes in staff
duties - as some items were segregated to various people before,but now will be
handled by all staff at the time of interaction with the customer instead. This is
challenging at this time because of the additional learning taking place. (Not only
are staff learning new software,but also learning about additional steps and
processes they did not participate in before.)
• There will be ongoing training on an individual basis this next month and then
NISC will be back the first week of January to review process training for the
various activities necessary for total completion of the billing processes.
• NISC will also be onsite for the go-live week the first week in February.
We advertised for the Purchasing Specialist position in November and received approximately
30 applications. We anticipate interviewing candidates this month and the new employee
starting after the first of the year.
To update on the PCAs, we received a small credit of$6,869 in November 2014. Through
November's bill, the accumulated PCA total is $707,460. We charged 6 mils in May collecting
$130,131, 6 mils in June collecting$131,188, 2 mils in July collecting $46,277, and 1 mil in
El
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August collecting$26,080. This leaves us the uncollected balance at$373,784. If we receive no
other PCAs,we are below the $500,000 we established as the amount we were willing to absorb
and would have 5 mils to potentially give back. December would be a good month to give this
back to customers, if that is the Commission's desire.
The auditors will be here Monday, December 15th for preliminary work and then will return
February 26th and 27th for final fieldwork. They will also be here December 30th as we conduct
our year end physical inventory counts.
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