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with the community, and to share options for alternative growth management strategies. Both staff and the Council envision this to be a transparent process with public participation. Councilmember Sullivan thanked the public for providing input and encouraged everyone watching at home to come down to the next meeting and share his or her views. Vice -Mayor Thorne thanked the public, as well, and said the input session helped him tremendously. Councilmember McGovern asked the public to take what they heard tonight and share their concerns and ideas through the Council's email addresses. She said each point raised is an important part of the decision making process and she hopes to hear more. Councilmember Cook- Kallio also thanked those in attendance as well as staff who have worked on virtually nothing else in the past several weeks in an effort to provide the Council with the basis to do the best possible job representing the community. Mayor Hosterman also thanked the public. She said the Council will pursue a conclusion that will retain as much local control as possible with as much enthusiasm as it defended the voter approved cap. 17. Overview of water and sewer rates and authorization to mail the Proposition 218 notification of the public hearing on June 1, 2010 Director of Operations Services Smith provided a PowerPoint presentation and introduced the City's Fiscal Officer, who has worked diligently the last few years to help evaluate and model the City's rates, and the Utilities Superintendent. Mr. Smith said that in preparing the water and sewer rate study, staff took into account the current economic difficulties, increased environmental regulations, and state mandated water conservation. The steadily increasing wholesale cost of purchased water combined with annual inflation is now placing a strain on the City's water enterprise. He noted the City has not raised rates since 2001 despite significant increases by Zone 7, the water wholesaler, and the Dublin San Ramon Sanitary District (DSRSD). He stressed that the City has always been sensitive to the environment as well as local unemployment and business closures, and that these issues were kept at the forefront in examining these rates. The proposed rate structures aim to encourage water conservation, maintain but restructure the senior and low- income discounts, and include funding for the City's recycled water program. He noted that in effort to improve efficiency and cut costs, the City has reorganized its utility divisions to cut down and reclassify positions, eliminated redundant standby personnel, and leveraged SCATA and CMMS systems at the Operations Service Center (OSC).These efforts have effectively reduced the proposed increase by half of what it would have been without this due diligence. Mr. Smith reviewed the proposed rates, which would mean an overall combined bill increase of 7.2% in 2010. This represents an average water rate increase of 12.57% despite a 54% increase in costs for the City to obtain water from Zone 7 since 2001. In that time the City has City Council Minutes Page 17 of 22 April 6, 2010