Lodi City Council talks utility billing, customer service improvements

The Lodi City Council received an update on restructuring planned for the city’s customer service department during Tuesday’s shirtsleeve session.

Planned improvements include consolidating billing cycles, making upgrades to the lobby of the customer service department and several technology upgrades.

According to Derrick Cotten, Lodi financial services manager, the city is looking to consolidate utility billing cycles from 16 down to four to reduce labor hours spent on sending out bills. According to staff reports, the move would substantially reduce the work load, saving 84 hours a month and more than 1,000 hours annually. Cotten said the consolidation would standardize due dates for customers and customers would be billed on the same day every month.

The change would also assign routes to field services staff, making it more efficient for them to provide services. Cotten said preferred billing customers will be affected by the consolidation because the billing cycles will be done based on location, and currently preferred billing due dates are not based on location.

With the consolidation, due dates are subject to change because they will be moved to the cycle that best fits their location. All late fees and shut-off notices would be waived during the consolidation period, Cotten explained.

The upcoming billing portal will provide options for customers to schedule their payments if they can’t meet their due date.

“This is going to be a (expletive) storm because everybody has pay days, and they plan their payments based on when they get paid and when you start moving that stuff around, I think you’re just asking for trouble,” Councilwoman JoAnne Mounce said about the consolidation. “I understand the goal. I just think it’s going to be a lot more challenging than what you’re currently thinking it might be. A utility bill is a huge expense for most people and they just can’t change that payment date on a whim.”

Deputy City Manager Andrew Keys reiterated that the new online payment software will have a scheduler which will allow customers to choose when they would like to make the payment of their bill.

“You may have a due date of the 20th, but your date that you can actually pay is the 5th because you get paid on the 1st you can pick that day to say ‘I’m going to make my payment on that day every time,’” Keys said.

Keys said not all preferred billing customers will see a large shift in when their payments are due. The city will start notifying customers of the consolidation in November, and customers will be moved to the correct cycle in December. By January, the 16 cycles will be consolidated into four.

In addition to consolidating billing cycles, the city is also looking to modernize the lobby to improve customer flow and functionality, Cotten said.

The city plans to update the signage in the lobby because the current signage follows the department’s old structure of billing and collections and is confusing to customers, Cotten said.

In addition to signage, upgrades would include a fresh coat of paint, enhanced seating, new flooring, improved lighting and new artwork. Cotten said the plan is to enhance the customer experience and create a feeling that coming to pay a utility bill isn’t that bad. Installing translucent glass dividers for staff visibility is another planned upgrade.

“We’re going from an institutional type of look to kind of a lobby experience to make this more user friendly and welcoming,” Keys said.

The cost of the upgrades will range between $8,525 to $45,765 and city staff recommends upgrade options that are on the higher end of the spectrum. Keys said the upgrades would be funded through the utility and the

work can be completed over a three-day weekend. The cost of the upgrades will minimally affect ratepayers, he said.

Councilman Bob Johnson had concerns about the potential costs of the upgrades. He said that while he sees the need for something to be done with the space, he questions the necessity of the proposed laminated flooring and the $800 proposed for chairs.

“I’ll bet the city manager doesn’t even sit on a $800 chair in his office,” Johnson said.

On the technology side, Cotten informed council of the upcoming installation of the new payment system Invoice Cloud, plans to install a payment kiosk and future plans for a

general voicemail box.

Invoice Cloud is set to go live before the end of the month, Keys said. According to Cotten, the system would allow customers to make recurring credit card payments and schedule payments as well as provide options for mobile and text payments and improve the customer interface.