Kirkwood Meadows PUD
Communications Committee Meeting Minutes FINAL
January 7, 2014
In Attendance
Board Members: Chairmen Bob Epstein and Director Robert Ende;Staff: Jill Campbell, Kelly McBride, Manager Sharp;Community Members: Cheryl Stern
The meeting was called to order at 2 pm.
Approval of Minutes
The minutes from the December 9, 2013 meeting were approvedas submitted.
Website Launch: Phase Two
The December statement billing launched the redesigned billing statements which included subtotals by service type along with the daily average usage for electric, propane and water service for the billing period along with the usage for the same month in the prior year if available. Some of these statements were delivered online for those who had registered on the website and requested email delivery. The District newsletter was also delivered online.
A few minor issues surfaced but they were resolved quickly.
The team working on this project will be meeting on January 9 to prioritize next steps and items for the next release in the KMPUD Billing & Meter Project planned for January. It was agreed that the biggest challenge at this point is to increase the number of customers that have signed up with a promotional email complete with graphs, customer quotes and features and benefits. Cheryl Stern will draft this for Bob Epstein to review and edit.
It was also agreed that we need to reduce the complexity associated with registering on the website so that it becomes a one-stage process where the customer can select their password without having to cut and paste the computer generated password. Computer Courage has completed this effort; both Bob Epstein and Cheryl have tested this successfully.
In addition to the promotional email, a statement message will be added to the paper statements for the January bills at the end of this month.
The new website also offers functionality to send notices of Board and Committee Meeting notices to those who have signed up for that method of notification. Cheryl will work with Rena to merge and de-dupe the Outlook mail lists used today for this purpose with those who signed up on the website whose email list now resides in Mail Chimp. Cheryl has developed a template in Mail Chimp for this purpose and will review with Rena next week.
Payments processed since 12/31/2013 will be loaded to the website on January 1st.
Administrative staff will be allowed Administrative access to the website to facilitate their ability to “switch to” the customer account to help during the registration process.
Web Content and Plans for New Content
Manager Sharp reported that significant progress has been made to complete the content on the website. Staff biographies have been added and these will be supplemented with photos following the staff meeting on January 16. Cheryl reported that for the one page (Safety under Community) still waiting for content that she will work with Rick Ansel to complete this in the next week.
Presentation of Progress Made to Upgrade Live stream Video and Digital Presentations.
Manager Sharp reported that the District has engaged Wired Solutions to solve the pause/delay problems experienced with PowerPoint presentations during Board and Committee meetings. Chairman Epstein stated that there are services other than Livestream that we could be looked into. WebEx was again brought up; they do offer a rate for non-profits.
Mello Roos Notification
Manager Sharp reported he has confirmed that there will not be any formal notification to those not
Affected by the Mello Roos revisions. It was decided that the committee is in favor of notifying the owners of the 149 unaffected parcels. Manager Sharp will draft a communication to be mailed for review by Director Ende. Manager Sharp will obtain a list of the names and addresses associated with the 149 parcels from Victor Irzyk from Goodwin Consulting for the mailing. Note that Mr. Irzyk receives the list from the counties.
Other Business
Cheryl Stern mentioned that there would be a Meet & Greet with those candidates in Alpine and Amador Counties who are running for office in the June election. The date for this is Saturday, February 8 in the Red Cliffs Club from 2 – 5 pm.
Next Meeting
The next meeting was scheduled for February 3 at 1 pm.
Meeting was adjourned.