04-13-2010 ERMU MIN - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 3 Regular meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission April 13, 2010 John Dietz wanted to say hank you to Theresa Slominsld and Lorrie Franz on doing a good,job on financials and in preparing for the audit. The more information prepared for the auditors saves time and money for the Utilities. 5.2 Yieview and Consider f8zserves 1'olicy At the March 9, 2010, ERMU Commission meeting, the Inveshnont Convnittco provided an update on the ncod for a reserves policy. State was directed to draft a reserves policy and bring back to the Commission for review. Staff has utilized the resom~ees of MMUA, Ehlers and Associates, and Abdo, F.iclc & Meyers to compile and compare reserve policies and reserve target criteria from other Minnesota municipal utilities. Troy Adams reviewed the reserve criteria. A six month operating revenue less the depreciation along with the umual P 1'c I for next year is the recommended reserve policy. Tim Simon discussed the recommended roserve policy for the electric and water funds. John Dietz talked about the importance of having a policy and that it should be reviewed yearly. Consensus was for'froy Adams, Theresa Slominski, and Tim Shnon to draft a foemal reserve policy for adoption at the May ERMU Commission meeting. 5.3 Review and Consider CrediE Card Pa~nent ®g1&uns For several years now it has been a goal to have credit cards as an option fox customers to pay their bills. ERMLJ customers were st¢veyed back in 2006 and 71 % of the resprntdents wanted this service. The ofteting of credit cards comes at a cost for processing the payment, bt>t so do the rental of the drop boxos, and the staff for in house processing of payments. Depending on how you collect the credit card payment, the cost varies from 2% to 4% of the hunsaction total. Mier researoluug numerous credit card vendors, Paymentus is the credit card company that ERMU would like the eorntnission to consider working with for prroviding credit cu•d payments to customers. They offer a combination of services such as phone payments, web payment (throw a Ihilc from ow' website), and face Co Face. Additionally they allow you to set the processing cost at your comfort level by utilizing the convenience fee aY 100% rn' down to 0% to be passed on to fhc customer. The 0% would result in a 2.75% transaction fee to ERMU. llisct~ssion followed regarding transaction fees. Daryl Thompson and Jerry Gumphrey preferred the customer pay the convenience fee. John llietz said a time frame should be established to revisit the convenience fees. IAaryl Thompson moved to proceed with the Paymentus credit card company, have customers pay the convenience fee, smd re-evaluate In May 2011..lerry C7nmphroy seconded Ehe motion. Motion carried 3-0. 5.4 Reyieev and Consider W holesale Power Suntrly Cations At the March 9, 2010, ERMU Commission meeting, the convnission gave authorization for 'troy Adams to furthor explore whole sale power supply options. 74oy Adams talked about the recent power supply coalition meeting he attended which was organized by CMMl'A. At this meethig there