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40. Regular Meeting June 10, 2002 Page 4 Mihalkanin moved to table to after the consent agenda and Mr. Mayhew seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN MARCOS, TEXAS, RESCINDING THE APPROVAL OF AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY AND PACIFIC TECHNOLOGIES, INC. FOR CONSULTING SERVICES IN CONNECTION WITH THE UTILITY BILLING SYSTEM¡ AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Mr. Mihalkanin moved to adopt the Resolution and Mr. Mayhew seconded the motion. Mr. Mihalkanin stated he has concerns with the amount of money the City would be spending on this contract and inquired to why a staff person could not advise us on software. Mr. O'Leary stated the City does not have the technical expertise on staff. Ms. Brown, Director of Information Technology stated this consulting agreement would cover legalities of this type of business. She stated the City is in need of replacing and updating the current billing system. She also stated the billing system has been in-house for 7 or 8 years and this will be a larger application and this vendor will provide contract negotiations as well. Mr. Mihalkanin inquires to the base cost of this agreement. Ms. Brown stated the cost is based on the number of water and electric meter accounts at $1 per account, which is approximately $500,000 per year. Mr. Mihalkanin inquired to the advantages for the City. Ms. Brown stated a few of the advantages include Internet access for customers to review and pay bills and for staff to be able to review yearly account histories. Ms. Narvaiz inquired to what the consultant would be providing. Ms. Brown stated the consultant would be writing the RFP and then pick three or more vendors to provide the billing system the City is looking for and then to perform demonstrations. Mr. Mihalkanin stated there seems to be different ways to save money. The system we have now wastes postage, and a delinquent letters go out on the last day an account is due, meanwhile customers are coming in paying on their accounts on the same day. Mr. Mihalkanin inquired to whether the inefficiencies would go away. Ms. Brown stated customers pay according to tariffs. She also explain there would be other areas the City would be saving money. Mr. O'Leary stated a one month breakdown would be disastrous for both the City and the customers. Mayor Habingreither inquired to whether the failure is software or hardware. Ms. Brown stated mainly software. Mr. Mihalkanin asked staff to inquire with other Texas municipalities on the types of billing systems they have. And if they have an in-house billing system how do they run it without have incurring additional costs. Ms. Brown stated larger cities have in-house, but San Marcos is unable to because of staffing levels. Then Council then voted to adopt the Resolution. AYE: Mihalkanin, Habingreither, Taylor. NAY: Narvaiz, Mayhew. ABSTAIN: None.