Conduct the third of five special study sessions with City Council, Staff, and facilitator.

• City Council is scheduled to meet with Staff and Heather Bergman, a facilitation consultant, a total of five times during the months of October, November, and December to discuss water/wastewater infrastructure, costs, and rates.
  
  
• These meetings are being held in advance of discussions about the 2022 water/wastewater rates. Thursday, October 8, was the first of these special study sessions, and the second was held on Tuesday, October 20.
  
  
• The community has been notified about these meetings via a press release, postings on the City's website, articles in The Weekly, Facebook, Twitter, and NextDoor. Public questions and comments can be directed to Staff either by phone or by comment form. This information can be found on the City's website at: https://www.cityofwestminster.us/Residents/Water/Rates/2022WaterandSewerRates.
              

• A series of attachments to this document includes the original discussion outline, the presentation for the November 5 meeting, the previously submitted W-WW Utility Cost Savings Practices document (as it is referenced in the presentation), a compilation of community questions and comments stemming from these workshops, and the final summary of the October 8 meeting.

• Following the November 5 meeting, City Council, Staff, and Ms. Bergman will meet two more times:  November 17 and December 15. Staff will continue to notify the community about these meetings and upcoming dates.

• Each meeting will include a presentation for City Council, followed by a discussion between City Council and Staff. The summaries for these presentations are also attached, and final versions are on the City's webpage.

• Staff will also work with City Council in coming months to identify the most appropriate and comprehensive way to conduct community engagement with our customers as part of the 2022 water and sewer rate process.

Not applicable.

Do not conduct this special study session as planned. Staff does not recommend this option as these special study sessions have been prepared with the facilitator to allow time for City Council to discuss and deliberate the state of the water and wastewater system infrastructure and provide direction on future rates.

City Council is scheduled to meet with Staff and Heather Bergman, a facilitation consultant, a total of five times to discuss water/wastewater infrastructure, costs, rates, and community engagement. These meetings are being held in advance of discussions about the 2022 water/wastewater rates. Thursday, November 5, is the third of the special study sessions. Originally planned to be conducted in four sessions, a fifth meeting has been scheduled for December 15 to ensure City Council has sufficient time to discuss each item and obtain any follow up requested.

The community has been notified about these meetings via a press release, a posting on the City's website, articles in The Weekly, and on Facebook, Twitter, and NextDoor. Public questions and comments can be directed to Staff either by phone or by comment form. This information can be found on the City's website at: https://www.cityofwestminster.us/Residents/Water/Rates/2022WaterandSewerRates. All previous presentations, Staff Reports, meeting recordings, final meeting summaries, and current presentations can also be found at this site.

Staff will work with City Council in coming months to identify the most appropriate and comprehensive way to conduct community engagement with customers as part of the 2022 water and sewer rate process.

A series of attachments is included to provide context to these conversations and to summarize previous discussions:

• Attachment A: The meeting outline and format proposed by Ms. Bergman.

• Attachment B: The slide deck for the 11/5 presentation.

• Attachment C: The W-WW Utility Cost Savings Practices document. Originally submitted to City Council in June, Staff has attached it as the document is referenced in the presentation.

• Attachment D: A compilation of community questions and comments stemming from these workshops. Submittals received through October 28 are attached, and Staff will answer the questions received during the presentation. Staff will continue to compile questions and comments, and will add them to future presentations for response.

• Attachment E: A final summary of the first workshop held on October 8.

The final summary of the October 20 meeting will be shared with the next staff report.

Following this meeting, City Council, Staff, and Ms. Bergman will meet two more times: November 17 and December 15. Staff will continue to notify the community about these meetings and the upcoming dates. Each meeting will include a presentation for City Council, followed by a discussion between City Council and Staff.