Board of Water and Sewerage Commissioners — Minutes

City of Stevens Point Board of Water and Sewerage Commissioners September 14, 2026 - 12:00 PM Stevens Point Public Utilities 300 Bliss Avenue, Stevens Point, WI OR Zoom Teleconferencing Meeting ID: 820 26885705 By Computer: Zoom Link By Phone: (303) 715-8592 MINUTES Discussion and Possible Action on: 1. Roll Call. Present: Paul Adamski, Carl Rasmussen, Anna Haines and Jeff Bushman Excused Absence: Ray Schmidt Also Present: Joel Lemke, Jennifer Schmeiser, Eric Southworth, Shane Kohnen, Chris Lefebvre, Jason Draheim, Natalie Rink, Jaime Zdroik and Ald. Shuda 2. Approval of Minutes Motion made by Jeff Bushman, seconded by Carl Rasmussen to approve the August 10, 2026 meeting minutes of the Board of Water & Sewerage Commission. Ayes all. Nays none. Motion carried. 3. Approval of Department Claims Motion made by Jeff Bushman, seconded by Anna Haines to approve the claims for the month of August as audited and read. Ayes all. Nays none. Motion carried. 4. Update on billing frequency - Joel Lemke Joel stated in our last full rate case and rate adjustment, we had rate schedules for both monthly and quarterly billing put into our official tariffs by the Public Service Commission. Rate increases will be brought to the Commission next month either in a completed form or contingent upon approval of the Public Service Commission. We would like to proceed with monthly billing as allowed in our official tariffs. We wanted to discuss this now, in order to communicate this to our customers in a timely fashion. We are looking for support from the Commission to move forward with billing monthly instead of quarterly. The date as to when this will be effective will be brought back next month as well. 5. Water Supply and Distribution Reports - Eric Southworth Eric stated pumpage was up in August due to it being a hot, dry month. Well 4/Well 12 project is officially out for bid and it closes on September 24th. They did have an onsite meeting with the contractors to let them see the environment they would be working in. Carl questioned how the contractors would access the site. Joel brought up a map of the area and explained the access points. 6. A new software subscription for water meter reading - Joel Lemke/Eric Southworth Eric explained how our current meter reading software works. With the current software, the servicemen have a flash drive that plugs into the computer and when they drive-by with truck/antenna, it pings the meter to capture the meter reading. This flash drive is brought back into the office in order to download reads and create service requests for any misreads. This software was end-of-life back in 2019 and is no longer supported. It was replaced with Neptune 360. Neptune 360 is a cloud-based platform and would help optimize our transition to monthly billing since we will have to read the entire City every month. The new software has a map with meters that disappear when the read is captured, automatic meter route import and exports, data logging and analyzing customer usage and is a web-based platform accessible with a secure login. Joel stated it is time to upgrade due to the old software no longer being supported. Our newest metering technology is actually cellular. The system is slowly being converted to that, but it will take time to do this. Motion made by Carl Rasmussen, seconded by Anna Haines to approve moving forward with new meter reading software, Neptune 360, for an amount not to exceed $12,870.00. Ayes all. Nays none. Motion carried. 7. Sewage Treatment Operations Report - Chris Lefebvre Chris stated all permit limits were met for the month of August. They are currently taking down the digester for cleaning and inspection. The Feltz Ave. lift station on Heffron St. is under construction with the new lift station being set later this week and online in two to three weeks. They are looking at doing the 10-51 Lift Station and in the process of getting that started as well. Hoping to start that project in the next couple of weeks. Tyler Gilliam left to take a management position at another company. He had done a great job for us. So the Commission will see a job posting soon to fill his position. 8. Construction and Maintenance Report - Shane Kohnen Shane had nothing else to add to his report. 9. Directors Report - Joel Lemke Joel stated we are preparing for an adjustment of utility rates for all three utilities next month. There was a public hearing last week and there was no attendance to that and a comment submitted online was rejected because it was for a different rate case. 10. Adjournment. Motion made by Jeff Bushman, seconded by Anna Haines to adjourn the meeting. Ayes all. Nays none. Motion carried. Meeting Adjourned: 12:17 P.M.