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Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Meeting Minutes <br />April 8, 2025 <br />Page 5 <br /> <br />explained that ERMU will continue its dedicated tree trimming program and commended staff <br />and the utility’s robust system for contributing to strong results. <br /> <br /> Chair Dietz asked if ERMU is allowed to trim trees on private property. Staff explained that <br />they will always communicate the need to trim trees with residents, but ERMU has the right <br />to maintain plant growth in the right of way. <br /> <br />5.3 Water Service Line Ownership <br /> <br /> Mr. Hanson presented his memo and invited the Commission to discuss what if any changes <br />they’d like staff to pursue in water service line ownership. The topic had previously been <br />covered in a discussion of the curb stop valve break during open forum at the December 2024 <br />meeting and during business action at the February 2025 meeting. Mr. Hanson explained the <br />potential iterations of ownership based on his research of 50 Minnesota municipal water <br />utilities. <br /> <br /> The four options discussed were to maintain status quo with customers owning service lines <br />through the curb stop, maintain status quo but with a protection program, and ERMU owning <br />the service line up to the curb stop with or without commercial exemption. <br /> <br /> A review of insurance options and cost implications (annual costs approximately $47,000– <br />$61,000 with additional deductible considerations) was provided. Mr. Hanson explained that <br />ERMU would need to incur insurance costs over $100,000 to break even and shared his <br />opinion that this having costs over that amount were unlikely. <br /> <br /> There was discussion around the relative infrequency of water service line breaks, generally <br />occurring one to two times a year. Given this infrequency, Commissioner Stewart suggested <br />that pursuing a change in policy could be an example of a “solution in search of a problem.” <br />The group also discussed the availability of the Dispute Resolution Committee to address <br />individual cases. <br /> <br />The Commission reached consensus to continue with the current water service line <br />ownership policy and revisit potential changes based on feedback from a future customer <br />survey and the 2025 rate study. Accordingly, communications and finance staff will <br />investigate pursuing the survey and the study. <br /> <br />5.4 Advanced Metering Infrastructure Update <br /> <br />Mr. Tietz explained that Allegiant has completed its portion of the residential work on the <br />project due to intermittent water appointments and low inventory on electric meters, <br />adding that ERMU staff will complete the rest of the installation work. <br /> <br />Residential water meter exchange work is approximately 92% complete with roughly 500 <br />replacements remaining. <br />48