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08-27-18 CC WS Agenda Packet CITY OF SHOREWOOD 5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION COUNCIL CHAMBERS MONDAY, AUGUST 27, 2018 5:30 P.M. AGENDA 1. CONVENE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION A. Roll Call Mayor Zerby _____ Johnson _____ Labadie _____ Siakel _____ Sundberg _____ B. Review Agenda ATTACHMENTS 2. CIP – CONTINUE DISCUSSION Engineer Memo 3. WATER CONNECTIONS City Administrator Memo 4. 2019 OPERATING BUDGET Finance Director Memo 5. ADJOURN #3 MEETING TYPE City of Shorewood Council Meeting Item WORK SESSION Title / Subject: Water Connections Meeting Date: August 27, 2018 Prepared by: Greg Lerud, City Administrator Reviewed by: Larry Brown, Director of Public Works; Alyson Fauske, City Engineer Attachments: Map Background: There was a limited discussion at the last two work session about water connections. There are two parts to this discussion; increasing the number of connections to the system for those who already have water available; and the second part is should water be included in all street reconstruction projects or should there be a policy developed for adding water to projects? Due to availability of time, only a discussion about how to encourage connections to existing watermain is the immediate topic of discussion. New projects will be discussed at a future meeting. Attached to this memo is a map highlighting parcels that have access to water but are not connected to the city’s water system. There are approximately 290 parcels that meet that criteria. The present water connection fee is $10,000 for a single-family dwelling. The average cost to the City to get water service to a property is between $15,000 and $17,000. Staff does not recommend an increase to that amount in one step, but an increase over $10,000 is warranted. Staff has done some research regarding previous water assessments and is developing a spread sheet to track what parcels might have already been assessed for water. If staff finds that a property has previously paid an assessment for something less than the current $10,000 WAC charge, it is recommended that assessed amount will be deducted from the $10,000. In some cases the cost to connect for the current owner will be much less than the $10,000 which will, hopefully, be a further inducement to connect. Staff has discussed the idea of offering a limited number of water tests that would be available to the property owners who have access to water but are not connected. There are several issues with this idea, the first being the cost of the test. The city would set the testing parameters for the test to include arsenic, nitrate, total coliform and lead. The cost to perform those four tests is $140 per well. Although a write-down of the cost for a certain amount would be feasible. The second concern is from a public data perspective. If the city is involved, this data may be public when the property owners do not want it to be. For these reasons, staff suggests that the city negotiate a rate with a lab and the residents can work directly with the lab to have their water tested if they so choose. Recommended Strategy: Send a mailing to all the property owners who have access to water giving them information about the benefits of being connected to the system, the ability to continue to use their well water non-potable uses, the availability of a water test, and notifying them of the of a grace- period to connect for the current access charge. Connections made after that deadline would pay the Mission Statement: The City of Shorewood is committed to providing residents quality public services, a healthy environment, a variety of attractive amenities, a sustainable tax base, and sound financial management through effective, efficient, and visionary leadership. Page 1 connection charge at that time. This process could be enhanced by the city offering to allow the connection charge to be assessed over several years rather than the entire charge being due on the front end. This process gives the city an opportunity to evaluate if an incentivized approach to encouraging connecting is effective.