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i <br /> Elk River <br /> Municipal Utilities <br /> 13069 Orono Parkway phone: 763.441.2020 <br /> Elk River,MN 55330 Fax.763.441 8099 <br /> October 25, 2005 <br /> ' To: Elk River Municipal Utilities commission <br /> Jerry Takle <br /> Jim Tralle <br /> John Dietz <br /> ' From: Theresa Slominski <br /> ' Subject: Outsourcing of Bill Printing <br /> At the last commission meeting, in my staff update, I shared that I was looking into the <br /> possibility of outsourcing our bill printing. Looking at this possibility came about as a <br /> result of a presentation on Bill Flash at the Power Manager(ERMU's billing and <br /> accounting software provider) Users Group conference in September. Bill Flash is an <br /> 1. organization whose business is printing and mailing bills for organizations. Power <br /> Manager was contacted by Bill Flash and then formed a partnership. The partnership <br /> entailed customizing the software to create a print file that could be sent to Bill Flash for <br /> ' the actual printing and mailing function. As a result of this partnership, the special <br /> programming has been completed and it provides a smooth transition for those utilizing <br /> this service. <br /> ' There are a couple of reasons that I would like to implement this service at ERMU. The <br /> first reason would be saving $20,000 by not having to invest in a new folding and <br /> ' stuffing machine. We would also be able to save on the mailing machine replacement <br /> because we wouldn't need to purchase such a high volume machine if we weren't using it <br /> for bills. <br /> The second reason would be a better utilization of staff time, switching from a focus of <br /> the manual handling of paper to reviewing and analyzing the bills before they go out. <br /> ' This would result in more accurate bills and fewer adjustments. <br /> I want to address an earlier(much earlier) proposition for better utilization of staff time <br /> for the billing process. It is my understanding that the proposition for converting to <br /> cycled billing was done with the desired benefit of easing the workload involved with the <br /> bill processing and printing. My observations are that cycled billing won't reduce the <br /> amount of time involved but it will redistribute the intensity involved(still definitely a <br /> benefit.) Offsite printing will reduce the amount of time involved and it won't pose any <br /> difficulty in still converting to cycled billing in the future. <br />