City begins phased rollout of Community Connect payments; staff updates water‑quality and leak‑detection plans

City staff told the council on March 12 that the city has started a phased rollout of a new Community Connect payment platform for utility customers and will begin with ACH autopay customers to avoid disruption in billing.

Pete, who leads utilities coordination, said staff identified a blind spot during the transition that prevents customers from being simultaneously enrolled in the old and new ACH portals; the city is conducting casework to cross‑check lists and avoid double charges. He said the city mailed an initial notice to roughly 1,500 ACH accounts and has already resolved phone‑contact cases for several hundreds of customers; staff expects to continue casework and broader outreach in April through June as the rollout expands.

On water quality, staff said the nitrate‑removal facility had been briefly taken offline earlier in March but was back online with three vessels running (the facility can run up to seven vessels). Staff emphasized conservation and described plans to pilot smart irrigation controllers among willing customers to shift peak demand and reduce pressure on system capacity. Staff also described options to provide customers leak‑detection devices that can alert property owners sooner than current monitoring, which staff said could reduce the need for costlier capacity expansion.

The council asked about timing for multi‑week closures related to nearby interstate work and about outreach to affected neighborhoods; staff said major Hickman closures are planned in 2027 and that communications with neighboring cities and the public will be coordinated in advance.