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Billing and customer-service staff describe website overhaul, staffing and payment processes
Summary
Billing and utility customer-service staff told the workshop about department staffing, meter-read and payment workflows, AutoPay options and a large website cleanup that reduced pages from thousands to under 200 while lowering annual costs.
Elizabeth Shaughnessy, billing and services presenter, outlined the structure and staffing of utility billing and customer service and described recent changes to the city website and payment processes.
Shaughnessy said the city’s field department has nine employees who perform meter reads that feed billing. The billing division has two clerks, the customer-service team has seven representatives and one supervisor who handle an estimated 150 calls each, and the cashier unit has four cashiers and one supervisor who process deposits for multiple departments.
Shaughnessy described the city website redesign and cost changes: she said the website had been “5,000 pages with 20,000 leads” and was cleaned to about 192 pages. She said the city previously paid $45,000 for a vendor and that subsequent bills have been reduced “to about 5,000” (Shaughnessy used that phrasing when comparing past and current payments). The department also noted two AutoPay setups: one using the online portal and an older process that required a signed authorization and a voided check.
Shaughnessy said departments have been encouraged to submit events and calendar items to improve coordination. She also asked council members and department leaders to work first with directors on operational questions before escalating to her office.
No formal action was taken; the presentation was informational and focused on operations, customer access to payments, and the website and outreach changes.
