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Ishpeming council authorizes Waterworth utility rate-management service, waives bidding
Summary
The council authorized the city manager and city attorney to move forward with Waterworth's continuous utility rate-management service using water and sewer funds and waived competitive bidding. The vendor showed a data-driven rate modeling tool and recommended multi-year, staged rate adjustments to avoid large single-year increases.
The Ishpeming City Council voted to authorize city management to proceed with Waterworth’s continuous utility rate-management service and to waive competitive bidding, with the cost to be borne by the water and sewer enterprise funds.
Waterworth representative Paul, who presented the firm's platform, described the product as a “living, breathing rate study” that maintains up-to-date financial and capital scenarios using a community's meter and billing data. “We developed this platform to basically keep everything up to date, turn into a living, breathing rate study,” Paul said during the presentation.
The council heard a demonstration showing how the model integrates historical consumption, a six‑year capital improvement plan, debt-service scenarios and reserve-policy targets. Waterworth's scenario tools let staff and elected officials model the impact of delaying projects, modifying the capital plan or phasing rate increases across multiple years to reduce the burden on customers.
City Manager Randy and Finance Director Grant described the engagement as a tool to support long-term planning and said Waterworth will perform initial data entry during setup, which staff said is important for a small finance team. The firm quoted an initial implementation fee and a recurring annual fee; the council authorized staff to proceed with the agreement subject to manager and attorney review.
Council members asked to see a formal agreement and scope of services before final signature; the motion the council adopted authorized the manager and city attorney to finalize terms and instructed that funding come from the water and sewer funds. The vote was taken by voice and the motion passed.
The council’s action keeps open the option to return the contract for additional council review if needed. City staff said they will bring the draft agreement, a clearer breakdown of deliverables, and a timeline for implementation back to the council once the manager and attorney complete their review.
Ending
The Waterworth tool will next move to contract-review steps with city management and the city attorney. Council members and staff said they expect to receive the draft agreement and a more detailed cost schedule before full implementation begins.
