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Finance and IT brief: utility billing expansion, software migration and network modernization
Summary
Finance and IT staff told the council that billing will add about 4,000 accounts in January 2026, the city is migrating accounts into MillSoft and Munis for accounting, and IT is modernizing network links including Starlink replacements for remote sites.
Finance and IT staff told the council the city is undertaking a substantial expansion of utility billing operations tied to the Ukiah Valley Water Authority transfers and network upgrades to support added users.
Lori Martin, billing and customer service manager, said the billing division currently manages just over 11,000 utility accounts and will take on an additional roughly 4,000 accounts beginning January 2026, bringing monthly billing to over 15,000 accounts. "Beginning January 2026, we'll be taking on an additional 4,000 utility accounts, increasing our total monthly billing to over 15,000 accounts," Martin said. Staff will continue a major effort to inventory meters and complete a MillSoft system version upgrade next year.
Olga Kio (transcript spelling), a controller assigned to the Ukiah Valley Water Authority and utilities, described the accounting and systems migration work that accompanied the joint-power authority transfers. She said the city migrated approximately 3,000–4,000 customer accounts from legacy systems to the city’s MillSoft billing system and will transition accounting records from QuickBooks into Munis to preserve balances and billing history.
Mary Horger, who oversees procurement, grants and capital finance, said her division launched a paperless invoice process in March and is standardizing grant reimbursement processes. IT manager Ryan Burkhardt described a network modernization in progress, replacement of aging T1 lines with Starlink at remote sites, evaluation of new phone and camera systems, and nearly 1,400 help-desk tickets handled since April of last year.
Staff emphasized this work will increase internal workload and require continued cross-department coordination; no formal council action was taken during the briefing.
