Committee approves cooperative agreement to pilot mobile payment and collections tools for Watershed accounts

The City Utilities Committee approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute a cooperative agreement with Carahsoft Technology Corporation, using a Georgia Department of Administrative Services cooperative contract, to deploy a customer payment/engagement tool for the Department of Watershed Management.

Deputy Commissioner Jonathan Williams told the committee the platform (described in the presentation as a “promise pay”‑style service) lets account holders view bills on a mobile device, set up payment plans and ask questions online. Williams said Watershed is pursuing “every possible engagement” to address collections, noting “with over 30,000 accounts that are in arrears, we need to exercise every possible engagement we can.” He described the proposed arrangement as a revenue-share formula—rather than a flat fee—where the vendor receives a percentage of amounts collected.

Council members questioned contract length and cost structure. One council member observed a fee of 8% in the legislation; Williams explained the contract uses a percentage of collected funds rather than a fixed up-front payment and said the cooperative agreement’s term matches the underlying state contract (through September of next year), which constrained the committee action to that end date. Williams said the city intends to continue the approach after the cooperative contract’s term if it proves effective.

The committee approved the resolution 5-0 on substitute. Council members requested additional detail in future Watershed presentations to separate in‑house collections results from amounts recovered under third‑party vendors so the committee can evaluate the net value of outsourcing versus in‑house recovery.