Council authorizes audit of water and sewer billing, adds review of third-party billing

The Mandeville City Council unanimously adopted Resolution 26-28 on July 9 to retain a qualified consultant to audit the city's recently adopted and amended water and sewer billing system. The audit is charged with identifying methodologies to reflect actual use, proposing revised rates or alternative rate structures to make the enterprise fund self-sustaining, and to satisfy State of Louisiana requirements to qualify for state capital funding.

Councilwoman Cynthia Strong-Thompson moved the resolution and Councilman Jason Zuckerman seconded. Councilman Kevin Vogeltanz successfully moved an amendment to add an explicit review of "whether the City ought to administer its own water and sewer billing itself versus hiring a third party vendor to administer such water and sewer billing." The council adopted the resolution as amended by unanimous vote. The resolution references prior local ordinances including Ordinance No. 24-40 and Ordinance 26-20 as context for the current billing structure.

The resolution directs the mayor to retain a consultant to perform the audit; the transcript does not specify a contract value or consultant name. The council did not set a public deadline in the meeting for the consultant's report or for any subsequent rate proposals.