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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996 06-03 CCP Work Session ® AGENDA CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION JUNE 3, 1996 7:00 P.M. CONFERENCE ROOM B 1. Discussion of proposed policy on delinquent water bills. 2. Update on Orchard Lane Project - policy issue of use of chokers generally 3. Discussion of council interest in joint meeting with Brooklyn Park City Council 4. Next steps in biennial salary review. 5. Council Items. 6. Other discussion • MEMORANDUM 0 TO: Michael el J. McCauley, City Manager FROM: Charlie Hansen, Finance Director C H DATE: May 28, 1996 SUBJECT: Public Utility Account Collections Special Assessments I am proposing that we change our primary means of collecting delinquent utility accounts from the current practice of shutting off water service to a practice of special assessing the delinquent account on the property tax. This proposal is motivated by desire to reduce conflict with our customers. It is becoming increasingly unacceptable for the City to offend a customer. It is not possible for us to either threaten to shut off a customer's water service, or actually shut it off, without greatly offending the customer. Administrative staff receive ayment promises which frequently ' P , entl aren't kept and are followed P o ed b another q Y P Y payment promise. When water is actually shut off, the resulting encounters often are highly confrontational and have caused us to fear for the safety of our personnel. These situations have a highly corrosive effect on employee attitudes toward customer service. Certification of delinquent utility bills for collection on the property tax is in fact the collecti on rocess currently in use b most P y y other cities. We are one of ve ry few cities who shut off water service. We certified 21 accounts to special assessments ism 1994 and only 14 accounts in 1995. We estimate that we hang about 700 red tags each Y ear and shut off between 10 and 15 % of those. If we m g hundreds of make this change, we will be certifying fY accounts each year. We expect the resulting work load to at least equal the current work load for the shut off process. The time of the public works personnel for hanging red tags and doing shut offs will be - saved. Offsetting this will be the time needed for the administrative staff to handle the certification process. In short, the certification process won't reduce operating costs or save staff time, but will be a more customer service oriented approach. Even after the switch to certification, we will want to retain shut offs as an alternative means of collection. One circumstance which comes to mind is an unpaid bill on a property which doesn't pay taxes. In this case the bill couldn't be certified and we might still want the option of doing a shut off. But the purpose of a policy change would be to remove water service shut off as a primary means of collection. Special assessments must be certified to Hennepin County according to a schedule set in state law. At least two weeks prior to the public hearing, we must mail a notice of public • hearing to the owner of each property to be assessed and publish it in the legal newspaper. By October 31st, we must hold the public hearing to give the property owners a chance to object to the assessment. The property owner then has until November 29th to prepay the special assessment or it will appear on the next year's property taxes. In the past, we have tried to hold the public hearing at least a month earlier than the required date. The City has the option of certifying special assessments at other times during the year. For assessments done earlier, the property owner still has until November 29th to prepay. Assessments not prepaid will appear on the next year's property taxes. For public hearings held after October 31 st, the property owner would have until November 29th of the next year to prepay or the assessment or it would appear on the property taxes of the second year after the hearing. We anticipate that we may want to certify special assessments more than once a year. Failure to do so may leave our customers with a lack of urgency in regards to paying their utility bills. Scheduling the public hearing forces the issue because the certification fee, which is currently $30.00, is applied at that time. The time lag between an account becoming delinquent and being certified will vary because we bill twice a month, but the certification will be only two or three times a year. Allowing unpaid balances to pile up for a full year would also expose the City to greater losses from bankruptcies. Once an unpaid utility bill has been certified for special assessment, it has a very high probability of collection, even in bankruptcy. Prior to certification, it has little or no chance of collection in bankruptcy. Even pendin the unpaid bill does nothing to improve its bankruptcy status. For these reasons, we plan to certify more than once a year. In 1997 we will certify twice. Based on the 1997 experience, we will decide how often to certify and will set that number in the annual resolution adopting utility rates. Rental Property Billing Another significant change I am proposing to make is to require that all residential properties be billed to the owner of the property, not to a renter. Until now, the City of Brooklyn Center has given owners of rental properties the option of having the utility bill in the name of their renters instead of the owners name. Under Minnesota State Law, the owner is ultimately responsible for the bill, regardless of who it is initially billed to. Many rental property owners have opted for billing to the renters. This has caused problems for the our utility billing operation due to the high turnover of tenants, owners trying to make new tenants responsible for past unpaid bills, and owners requesting duplicate bills so they will know if a tenant isn't paying. Most other cities require that the utilities be billed directly to the owner. Staff time saved by only billing owners will help offset the additional time needed for special assessments. • ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY &PROCEDURE May 28, 1996 PUBLIC UTILITY ACCOUNT COLLECTIONS PURPOSE The purpose of this policy is to provide an orderly and reasonable method for the collection of accounts of the various utilities operated by the City of Brooklyn Center and any which may be added in the future. This policy is intended to follow with the provisions of Minnesota State Law, Brooklyn Center City Charter and City Ordinance. Utilities currently operated by the City of Brooklyn Center and the corresponding ordinances are as follows: Water and Sanitary Sewer, Chapter 4; Recycling, Chapter 7; and Storm Drainage, Chapter 16. POLICY In keeping with Minnesota State Law, all municipal utility services shall be considered to be services to the property, not to the person. All residential utility services shall be billed to the owner of the property, not to the tenant. Commercial or industrial properties may be billed to either the owner or tenant. Utility services shall be billed tY to the appropriate party by the Finance Department according to the rate schedule adopted ed annuall b resolution P t on b the City tv Council Y Y y .Utility accounts shall become due immediately following billing and must be aid b the due date p y panted on the bill. Special assessment against the benefited ro e p p rty of an delinquent unpaid accounts Y Q p o nts shall be considered as the primary means of collection. of w Shutting off ` water service to the benefited property shall be an alternate means of collection in any situation where special assessment isn't possible or practical. Any city utility service for which a rate schedule is established by resolution is eligible for collection by means of either special assessment or water shut off. PROCEDURE NORIVLA,L BILLING ,42ND COLLECTION 1) A meter card is mailed to each residential property 28 days prior to the billing date. Readings must be submitted to the Finance Department by the date printed on the meter card. Penalties for failure to submit a meter reading will be charged on the date of billing as defined by the rate schedule. 2) A public utility bill is due 28 days from the date of billing. 3) The late payment penalty as defined in the rate schedule shall be applied five working days after the due date. 4) A delinquent billing is generated for each account unpaid after 35 days. Customers have 21 days to pay this delinquent bill. DELINQUENT ACCOUNTS • All delinquent accounts in excess of $100 shall be ended as a special assessment. p p ss ssment. Vacant Properties Upon notice as described under "Water Shut Offs ", the water shall be shut off. Rental Property (Commercial or Industrial) If delinquency not incurred by current tenant a) Obtain a meter reading and date of change of occupancy, and calculate final bill for previous tenant b) If a forwarding address is available for the previous tenant, send a final bill. Send an informational copy to the property owner. C) If no address is available, notify property owner of delinquent final bill d) If not paid in 28 days, the unpaid amount shall be certified as a special assessment If delinquency incurred by current tenant a) Follow procedure in "NORMAL BILLING AND COLLECTION' section b) Send informational copy of bill to property owner • FINAL BILLS All final bills unpaid after 28 days shall be pended as a special assessment Rental Property (Commercial or Industrial) a) All final bills unpaid after 28 days shall be billed to the property owner, due in 28 days after the date of the billing b) If not paid in 28 days, the unpaid amount shall be certified as a special assessment Other Property a) After 28 days unpaid, the bill shall be pended as a special assessment, and a letter of explanation sent to the new property owner. b) Two more attempts 28 days apart shall be made to collect from the previous property owner. If unpaid. the bill shall be certified as a special assessment. • • SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS For accounts that remain uncollected after performance of the normal billing and collection procedure, special assessment against the property shall be considered as a primary means of collection. 1) The annual City Council resolution adopting the utility rate schedule shall establish the number of times and a schedule for public hearings to be held at City Council meetings for the purpose of adopting a certification roll of delinquent utility accounts for special assessment. At least one certification cycle will be timed each year to coincide with Hennepin County's requirements for certification to the following year's taxes. Additional certification cycles may be set in the annual resolution. 2) A certification cut -off date shall be established at which time all accounts which have been billed a delinquent bill and the account is unpaid as of the due date on the delinquent bill, shall have the balance on the account included in the preliminary special assessment certification roll. Included in the amount certified shall be interest accrued from the date of initial delinquency through the public hearing date and a certification fee at the rate and amount established in the adopted rate schedule. 3) A notice of public hearing will be published in the city's official newspaper at least two weeks prior to the public hearing. A notice of the public hearing and a copy of the proposed special assessment roll will be sent by certified mail to each affected property owner at least two weeks prior to the public hearing. . 4) The owner of the property shall have the option of paying the balance due on the account, without interest or certification charge, until the date the notice of public hearing is mailed. After this date, payments will still be accepted, but will include interest through the mailing date and the certification charge. 5) The public hearing will be held at a City Council meeting at which the property owners shall have the opportunity to object to the special assessment. At least one public hearing will be held each year in September or October to allow delivery of a certified roll to Hennepin County on November 30. 6) After the public hearing, for each special assessment sustained by the City Council, the property owner shall have the options of: a) To pay the special assessment and charges listed on the preliminary roll, but without additional interest after the public hearing, within 30 days of the public hearing date. b) To prepay the special assessment and the special assessment certification s charge after 30 days P g Y of the ublic hearing m date with interest at the rate set m the adopted rate schedule, accrue g p e d beginning nnin on the 31st da g g following he public hearing date through November 29th. Y g P g g C) To pay the special assessment as billed to them by Hennepin County on their property tax statement with an assessment term of one year. 7) On the 31st day following the public hearing, the certified roll, minus any prepayments, shall be delivered to Hennepin County. WATER SHUT OFFS • The City reserves the right to shut 3 off water service to properties in situations where special assessment isn't practical or possible. Brooklyn Center Ordinance 4 -202 provides that water service may upon reasonable notice be discontinued for nonpayment of individual accounts. The following is the procedure to be followed when public utility accounts are in arrears, or when a closing bill is more than 30 days overdue. 1) A "Final Notice letter is sent to each delinquent account unpaid 56 days after the date of billing. This notice informs customers that they have 11 days to select one of the following three options for handling their account. a. Deliver payment in full to the City. b. Sign and return a payment agreement to the City. A minimum acceptable agreement includes a partial payment of at least 1/4 the total amount due paid within 14 days, and full payment within 30 days of the date of the final notice. If that payment agreement is not met, the property will be red tagged. C. Provide a written letter to the City requesting an administrative hearing before the City Council at their nest regularly scheduled meeting. At this meeting, the customer must show cause as to why the City Council should remove their name and account from the list of accounts for which service is to be discontinued. The City Council may either sustain the requirement for payment, modify the required terms of payment, or order staff to take such actions as it deems are necessary. If no written request is received, it is assumed the customer waives the right to a hearing. 2) On the 70th day, a "red tag" is delivered to properties where the account remains unpaid, a payment ageement has not been made or isn't being adhered to, and where no request for a hearing has been made. This notice informs customers that payment is due within five days or water will be immediately shutoff. 3) Once service has been shut off for non - payment, the entire balance due and a restoration of service fee must be paid prior to service being turned on. The restoration of service fees will be established in the adopted rate schedule and will include a fee for restoration during normal business hours and a higher fee for restoration when workers must be called back on overtime. • CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER PROPOSED UTILITY BILL SPECIAL ASSESSMENT CALENDAR FIRST SECOND ACTION ASSESSMENT ASSESSMENT Mail original utility bill on or before 12/5/96 6/5/97 Mail delinquent utility bill on or before 1/9/97 7/10/97 Delinquent utility bill due on or before 1/29/97 7/30/97 Certification cut -off date 1/31197 8/ 1 /97 Mail notice of public hearing 2/12/97 8/13/97 Public hearing 3/10/97 9/8/97 Deadline for prepayment without additional interest 4/9/97 10/8/97 Deliver certification roll to Hennepin County 4/10/97 10/9197 Deadline for prepayment to avoid inclusion on 1998 taxes 11129/97 11/29/97 CALENDAR.XLS 5/29/96 • MEMORANDUM DATE: May 30, 1996 TO: Michael McCauley, City Manager FROM: Diane Spector, Director of Public Service SUBJECT: Orchard Lane East Project, 65th Avenue Traffic Control As you recall, at the public hearing on this project, some residents raised concerns about the speed of traffic on 65th Avenue, and about the intersection of 65th and Indiana Avenues. Some residents requested that a four -way Stop be installed at 65th and Indiana; others disagreed that this was needed. Others noted that 65th Avenue from Indiana to Unity is a long roadway without any traffic control, and suggested Stop signs or some other traffic control to slow down traffic. Engineering staff and the Administrative Traffic Committee have reviewed available information, and the Engineering staff has prepared a recommendation. Background Information Speed surveys were conducted before the pond/park/park and ride /65th Avenue project and the current project. Surveys were taken at Marlin Drive and at Lee Avenue. The Marlin Drive surveys showed a very moderate amount of speeding, which we believe has been reduced by the construction of the island. This is our observation, which will be reviewed by radar after construction is complete and traffic is back to "normal." SPEED SURVEYS Location Date& Time # Vehicles Average 85th %ile Speed Speed 65th & Marlin 9/30/93, Thu 915 30 37 (unmarked car) 8:25 am to 4:05 pm 65th & Marlin 10/1/93, Fri 618 28 33 (SMART trailer) 8:37 am to 4:22 pm 65th & Indiana 10 am 12/5/95, Tue to 2,863 29 36 (traffic counter) 10 am 12/7/95, Thu 65th & Lee 5/31/91, Fri 179 34 39 • (unmarked car) 5pm to 6 pm Page 2 The speed surveys conducted at Indiana and at Lee showed 85th percentile speeds of 36 and 39 mph, respectively. On residential streets the goal is for the 85th percentile to be 35 mph or lower. Some measures may need to be taken regarding the speed of traffic on 65th. We have done a series of traffic counts on the legs of the Indiana intersection. Counts were at one point this spring less than the "baseline" counts we took before all the projects, but counts taken just before the current project show the counts bouncing back to pre - project levels. I don't believe we will have any meaningful data here until all construction work is complete, the park and ride is operating at or near capacity, and we can do a detailed traffic movement study. Some residents have suggested installation of Stop signs to slow down traffic. Stop signs are traffic control devices used to indicate which driver has the right of way. A Stop sign is also used to improve traffic safety where standard "rules of the road" may not be adequate, such as an intersection with difficult sight lines. The standard warrants for four -way Stop signs, as established by the Uniform Manual on Traffic Control Devices, require traffic counts on all four legs of the intersection to be about equal. In such a situation, the traffic stops on all four legs, and drivers proceed based upon standard rules of the road (who got there first, the driver to the right, the driver with the biggest car or loudest radio, etc). At the Indiana intersection, the volume of traffic on 65th is about 10 times the volume of traffic on Indiana. Strictly according to the Uniform Manual, this would be an inappropriate location for a four -way Stop as 10 cars on 65th would have to stop for every one car on Indiana. In fact, on one of the days traffic counts were taken, between noon and one p.m., 45 cars were counted passing the counter on the west leg of 65th, and 5 cars on the south leg of Indiana. TRAFFIC COUNTS, 65th & Indiana (Average Daily, Not Seasonally Adjusted) Location July, 1995 March, 1996 April, 1996 North leg 627 347 395 West leg 2761 1706 2004 South leg 363 167 204 East leg 3808 2183 ' 2651 Recommendation We believe that the newly- installed island on 65th near Marlin Drive will help slow downtrafFc down around the curves between Brooklyn Boulevard and Indiana Avenue, and have no recommendations for that segment of 65th. Page 3 We recommend that the Council consider 65th Avenue om Indiana to Unity as a candidate fr ty fo r the use of chokers to help reduce speeds. Lee, Noble, and Perry, being through streets in the project area, are appropriate locations. Ordinarily, we would also recommend a choker at Indiana. That intersection, however, is unusually offset -- it's not a standard intersection. The geometrics would make it difficult to design and it would look strangely asymmetric. We also recommend enhancing the standard choker design by installing a 20 foot wide concrete panel across the street. This panel would grab the driver's attention and focus it on the narrowing of the street. We would also recommend such panels at the Indiana intersection. This would alert the driver to the upcoming intersection, and would also help to indicate that the driver is entering a neighborhood. A speed limit sign placed nearby would reinforce that fact. We do not recommend installing Stop signs on 65th at any of these intersections at this time. As in the Woodbine neighborhood, we would recommend monitoring the impact of the chokers on speed for a few years, and then revisiting the issue. While we do not have a significant history of reported accidents at the intersection of Indiana with 65th, the offset does raise a few sight distance concerns. We do recommend replacing the Yield signs on Indiana with Stop signs. P g The additional cost of the chokers and concrete panels at the unit prices established in the contract would be about 8 0 $ 00. The contractor on the project is proceeding at a very fast pace. At this time it is projected that curb and gutter and base course paving would be complete in the area of the 65th/Indiana intersection (and several other streets in the area) by about June 7, and the entire project area from Lee Avenue east by the end of June, so a decision should be made fairly quickly. 65TH AVENUE NORTH 65TH AVENUE NORTH 5 7 . �. 4 Me�'l�a .f • P -E • i0 (� k ?l: +`. a E - 1 ., P 3 OP eN1'.. 3'FB ^_iRANf If.P ❑, 151. r 'cP +.E. E A%E. 95'N .. E A"E. 95 .k L NE '.I _ �• k vCla.w a•�E. V; ' I s -; �- - t' �-- � I ' _. ' I I I I ', .. j �1 j I,la I ire •.•, I I - - I , . ; .r• � I 'J , .. I - _ -_ e I I r 1 I d • S' i - i31 - �. 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J0 _. «:0 28sG0 I 1 ...e ;con 1111, �i ?EE R�LCN12 41 `I -;0 'S - 'S •.0 1 • -•;0 — !0 -;0 THE ' ?'u ?1� iI+E N, ^E 21 x •, • NORTHWEST HENNEPIN HUMAN SERVICES COUNCIL Planning, Research, and Coordination of Human Services May 28, 1996 Mr. Michael McCauley, City Manager Brooklyn Center City Hall 6301 Shingle Creek Pkwy. Brooklyn Center, MN 55430 Dear Mr. McCauley, I had the opportunity to talk with Nancy Gohman recently about the Brooklyn Center Family Services Collaborative (FSC). She recommended I write to you with a brief update. During the past two years Debra Hilstrom has participated as the representative from the City of Brooklyn Center. However, the Assistant Projects Coordinator, David Adkins, who is responsible for calling members to remind them of FSC meetings informed me that as of March Debra requested to be removed from the FSC Advisory Council due to the lack of time she could commit to the Collaborative. As ou are aware, h Br are t e Brooklyn Center Family Services Collaborative recently opened a Family Y Y Y es C y p y Resource Center and there has been incredible momentum with this initiative. Because so many partners are involved, it is vital that the City of Brooklyn Center continue to be represented as well. I am hopeful that you can recommend another person to participate in the process as we move forward. I will look forward to talking with you soon about your thoughts on this matter. Sincerely, Patricia S. Wilder Executive Director BROOKLYN CENTER CORCORAN GOLDEN VALLEY MAPLE GROVE PLYMOUTH BROOKLYN PARK CRYSTAL HANOVER NEW HOPE ROBBINSDALE CHAMPLIN DAYTON HASSAN OSSEO ROGERS 7601 Kentucky Avenue N. • Brooklyn Park, MN 55428 (612) 493 -2802