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2026 01 08 CC WS MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN January 08, 2026 The City Council of the City of Baytown,Texas,met in a Work Session on Thursday,January 08, 2026, at 5:30 P.M. in the Council Chamber of Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas, with the following in attendance: Jacob Powell Mayor Pro Tem Laura Alvarado Council Member Sarah Graham Council Member Kenrick Griffith Council Member James Franco Council Member Mike Lester Council Member Charles Johnson Mayor Jason Reynolds City Manager Scott Lemond City Attorney Angela Jackson City Clerk John Stringer Sergeant at Arms Mayor Charles Johnson convened the January 08,2026 City Council Work Session with a quorum present at 5:33 P.M. All members were present with the exception of Council Member Laura Alvarado who was absent. 1. CITIZEN COMMENTS Mayor Charles Johnson announced no citizens signed up to speak. 2. DISCUSSIONS a. Receive a presentation from the Utility Billing(CIT)Continuous Improvement Team. Executive Officer of Strategic Services Jaime Eustace, provided a presentation regarding the improvement updates regarding CIT. (Exhibit A) Council Member Laura Alvarado entered the meeting at 5:37 P.M. City Council Members expressed their appreciation for all the work the Continuous Improvement Team put in making this presentation and provided their opinions and recommendations for discussed policy and process considerations focusing on the listed items. City Council Work Session Minutes January 08, 2026 Page 2 of 2 • Adding deposit fee to first bill • Placing a cap on payment plans • Adjusting reconnection services to the next business day. 3. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Charles Johnson adjourned the January 08, 2026, City Council Work Session at 6:18 P.M. .r G<�OYTQb1/f:��h�4 w ,i Angela J tt sin, Cat, %: erk City of Bayto4n/J 1/12/2026 EXHIBIT "A" •J Goals el a ) .4^:'1, aatim{s‘ It‘I IL ,c�� "'WI. .- ;� a4 •Collect basic facts about Baytown water service and customer accounts Continuous ,t Improvement Team: * .. ' F., • Examine work load measures in Utility Billing Utility Services k • Examine 3 Utility Billing Processes IIIIIIIIIIIIIIM 1 •• 4.> • , • Survey Customer Experience imii Accounts am, s Basic Facts Ern]I. 20,495 residential water accounts M2,495 commercial accounts f B.al T 1/12/2026 1 Accounts by Meter $60,514,941 water is billed annually 1 CAI TOWN rllit , s 11.45%of Bills are paid late •#Outdated: 2,201 meters that cannot provide usage data grim vxa t1o,529,599received Iste sr mot at*II w' „ wr:rlea 1 rrnrr rrrM � #reads averaged:2,000 ®ae1r1.11. rrMlw 0 #no reads: 1,500—2,000 per cycle(These are Manual Reads) MA*VA"i rY11111r�111p frrllrM (0,,\elmilW1i1Y 11111pll mn- Alrrr #unreachable:204 en �` aea 2 Hamm. (;�,MrMr«..rti rrrrn.mM ne! _-i tMnrrrM• leryrrY• How are people paying? Workload Measures /IN 1=1 rrn >tn en�t Q CO aim, Credit Cards usage is down by 19% ee Itr C l Irly •t compared to 2024. _" leket l°n" ;1 1/12/2026 During an average day at Utility Billing, ,,,,, COMPARISON: Payment Plans frontline employees s spend... Z City of Baytown I League City I Deer Park I Pasadena I La Porte p :low ,. 6.�sm„\ W _S n„••1aela _ ' .�..ti......,- siLif 9.fi hours helping with bill pay 1 t t .4, i, d :, To obtain an arrangement: �_ Fl �' . X • Contact UB G= I (r W _ ..,a..a ..�^ • Pay at least' 4.5hoursansweringphones CC d.... ,. � ..�_,, (� 11 l r "d" • Must still pay upcoming bill c • No limit on how many 4.5 hours helping customers ' �1"t, t• W in a year l 1 questionsfir _ ... arrangements / �J with other N 2.5 hours setting up new accounts V , ^ "`•'^..." Payment Plan Comparison Meter Tech Work Load: A Never Ending Cycle Meter Tech Work Load s aa7s i o Drive approximately 7,000 miles per month(75 miles or more This is completed two times per month ••��,, 8. O O• •�a-�.°"_` per day) a ( dnn.ewwn-t-asm ) y ?' 0..:.: f,,Q ` e ( 0 PP " -- ) •'``� � °`� Use 742 gallons of fuel per month 0.._g--•(Woes u,l%C.o,k,/11T't ) •. \) CV.,. .. Handle over 3,000 work orders per month OCRYigeal N,aanerif 1 1 ep J tr.i `/ o•--"- o Have to perform 2,800 manual reads per month A single meter tech's route or one day 1/12/2026 New Account Processes New Account Setup-U41Hy Services 7/23/2025 IP IF eyo, Water Usage Reports Process a v ■1111111111N, Customer Experience 1/12/2026 u THE BASICS: Payment Convenience WEBSITE USABILITY: Locatina the oayment oaae. L, Z Heenan DATUM Z torn who Easy BAIL. W s 1% W le.EN W63.6%are saying that the W Somewhat and 18.8%are expressing aSomewhatt>y payment convenience is VERY O. 37s% X X the difficulty of location the OTC EASY. Billing page on the site. W W C Very DifficultC (� G 88% `O Very MY /� O r 11% 0 63.6% `/ V Neutral 9.1%are finding it V �WWWQ VERY Difficult. PAYMENT 6.3% Very Easy WEBSITE CONVENIENCi 18.8% COMPARISON: Website Function W WEBSITE USABILITY: Pain Point Comments i� W City of Baytown I League City I Deer Park I Pasadena I La Porte Z �1 tl 't Z Clock Minty togm menial l BASS Y.I LiwS W CkcY ans Billing heyL 0eteo AG ORe1MAHy nwww.Wytnwn.or9 General Intim 8 Password It is buried on the City's site. CC CIC W W XHidden.Language not clear X W W NI Mil 111171,-7 Sa. p�a The website takes up to 20 seconds to load and is very clunky. CC L /: It's hard to find through the site.It takes way too many clicks to get there. ` © Payments Pica Bell teHite Porlie sarosrr ss..nacw Q - Q PaysNin lgin °.e WWI Ho Glick PAPAL' It is not veryclear.It takes some digging.ifyou are not familiar VI Residents H i;B� C� Pick Mine services -— `se with the City's site,or the department name,you would not know D - I.) where to go.Kind of hidden. (J -- >>> - 4 8 clicks to PAY WEBSITE PAIN POINT Website Function Comparison 1/12/2026 COMPARISON: Website Functionpir ellik Ih1A City of Baytown I League City I Deer Park I Pasadena I La Porte Z EtilASA UJ RiliPaillimMtg —5— filii, W WWW.leaguecitytt.gov Click PAY WAIN BMConsideration s a CO X oe... ow UJ W In _ _ = 3-4 clicks to PAY o o 1 vl _„_�, Clic Way Self Service Portal: WtBr ogin U NY Watsr Bill or e"_ Quick Pay >>>' Click PAY BUt Website Function Comparison ,„ ••- i TOWN -s. Policy and Process Consideration BA ,) • Implement full smart-read register program and customer port7ar. • Develop action plan with public works to reduce unbilled water • Strengthen staff capacity for billing • Reduce#of clicks for bill pay on website • Include deposit on first bill • Limit/cap number of payment plans per year • Perform reconnects next business day