During the public-comment period, resident Sarah Mankins described two personal incidents to show how the city’s payment forms and processes can leave customers without service even when they believe they have authorized payment.

Mankins said a changed credit card caused autopay to fail for her account and that, in another case, a friend’s water was shut off despite submitting an ACH authorization form. “The form says that you can sign up for this payment but it only processes on the fifteenth,” she told the commission and urged that language be changed so authorizations taken during urgent situations can be applied immediately to avoid shutoffs.

Utility staff responded that the ACH authorization form is written to withdraw on the 15th and that, as written, it does not explicitly grant permission to collect past-due funds at the time of submission. “The ACH form, to my understanding, it gives us permission to go ahead, withdraw on the fifteenth, as the form states. There’s nothing in there saying that we can go back and take any past due funds on that date,” a water-billing staffer said.

Staff and commissioners discussed payment alternatives: in-person cash or check, payment by phone through the city’s payment vendor, and an online portal accessible via the city portal where customers can use an electronic check or credit card and set up ACH. Staff noted the city is transitioning billing systems to OpenGov, which should improve interoperability between permitting and billing systems and could be a prompt to review payment workflows.

Staff also said the timing of processing ACH authorizations is a city policy and not strictly a vendor restriction; they acknowledged the process and form language might be improved to reduce harmful outcomes in urgent cases. Commissioners suggested exploring options so payments intended to prevent shutoff can be applied more quickly while ensuring equitable treatment of all customers.

The commission did not adopt an immediate policy change during the meeting; staff suggested reviewing ACH options and communications to customers as part of system transition planning.