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He provided an update on conservation efforts to date, which now totals over 1.2 billion gallons saved since the beginning of the year. City parks and facilities alone have saved 41%, or 102 million gallons, this calendar year. He also stressed, however, that moving into the fall and winter months irrigation needs typically decrease, which means that users will have the difficult task of shifting some of their savings indoors. Mr. Smith also presented a recommendation that the Council authorize both he and the City Manager to administratively reduce excessive use penalties going forward. As written, the current ordinance calls for a $4 per unit surcharge on all water used and a $50 fee for all accounts that failed to meet the mandatory 25% reduction. As the city enters the second round of billing this next week, the ordinance then calls for the penalties to be doubled to $8 per unit and $100. Based on the community's successful efforts thus far, staff no longer feels it is necessary to accelerate the penalty schedule as described and is asking the Council to allow the City Manager to instruct him to maintain the per unit surcharge at $4 for those accounts not achieving the 25% goal. As part of the original ordinance, the Council was also clear in its direction to staff that they did not wish to penalize those who had already demonstrated a commitment to conservation and perhaps were not able to conserve another 25% beyond their existing efforts. Staff performed an analysis of the entire user base, identified that conservative users averaged 30 units per billing cycle, and determined that any user accounts which did not exceed this 30 unit maximum would be exempt from the mandatory 25% reduction. Staff has prepared another analysis for this new billing period, as averages do vary between billing periods, and has determined that it would be appropriate to raise that threshold to 40 units per billing period. Mayor Thome asked and Mr. Smith confirmed that anyone failing to meet the 25% target was and would continue to be penalized on their entire usage. He said he received a lot of comments from the citizens who felt this was unfair and that they should be penalized only on that portion that exceeded the target. Mr. Smith said he has heard that sentiment quite a bit himself as well. He explained again that staff felt penalizing only that portion that exceeded the target was not a sufficient deterrent, particularly for heavier users. He presented a slide demonstrating that 93.4% of all users were able to meet their target. For those who did not, their average usage increased 12% which is actually 37% over what was required. Mayor Thorne said he has considered using his position with the League of California Cities and Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) to try and extend the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) cycle by a period that is equal to the length of this drought. He asked whether staff thought that would have any impact on the amount of water used in Pleasanton. City Manager Fialho said that any halt or slowing of new development would provide some relief, though it would be difficult to quantify in terms of its impact on the Tri Valley. Councilmember Brown requested that staff add language clearly stating that customers using less than 40 units of water per billing cycle would not be subject to the recommended penalties. Vice-Mayor Pentin asked and Mr. Smith confirmed that this is a temporary adjustment to the excessive use penalty, which may be increased again or reduced further as future needs warrant. Mr. Fialho emphasized that the city is actually lifting its strict regulations as we enter the fall and winter time frame in recognition of the shift in use and consumption from outdoors to indoors, and relaxing the fine structure in recognition of the community's efforts to date. City Council Minutes Page 5 of 12 September 16,2014