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in December. Sgt. Phaney stated it seems that this comes down to a matter of responsibility. He stated although Ms. Smith bears some responsibility for the water leak, the bulk of the responsibility falls on the City of Ramsey and Connexus Energy because they failed to make their reading on January 9 like they were supposed to. Had that meter reading been made this problem could have been avoided. He is requesting a copy of the City's contract.with Connexus Energy in order to determine whose responsibility it is if readings are not made. Connexus Energy has offered no explanation as to why the readings were not made. In addition he would like information about the END insurances that the City Council carries. The City simply says it is not their problem; if that is the case, he thinks the residents of the City of Ramsey need to know about this because it places them .at great risk. Sgt. Phaney stated he would like to know the chain of responsibility with this; he would ask the City Council to state that the City will accept 1/3 and Connexus will accept 1/3, with Ms. Smith accepting 1/3. In his experience in the military, soldiers and families have problems, and there are relief agencies set up to help them, but there is no relief agency he knows of that will write a check for $6,000. He does not know . that someone can just be expected to know this type of information. Connexus does not send out any informational brochures like other cities do with their billings; he finds that alarming, and thinks the citizens of Ramsey need to know the risk they are exposed to trusting those things will get taken care of on their behalf in a timely manner. He would like to receive a written formal response from the City Council regarding his request. Chairperson Strommen requested clarification that Sgt. Phaney is questioning the timing of when the pipe may have frozen and if the problem would have been detected earlier if a January reading had been completed. Sgt. Phaney replied that is correct. The situation was allowed to go on, and when the information was received there was not even the courtesy to contact Ms. Smith to inform her something was wrong at her house. He stated he would also like to know how many other meters were not read in the month of January and why. Utilities Supervisor Nelson indicated Connexus Energy notified him and he stopped at Ms. Smith's residence to check out the situation. The phone number Connexus Energy had for Ms. Smith was not correct. He asked if Ms. Smith's bill included his phone number for her to contact. Ms. Smith stated someone had known about this for two weeks and no one bothered to notify her. Sgt. Phaney stated it seems there is a shared responsibility; he is not denying Ms. Smith has some responsibility, but the full weight should not fall on her shoulders. He would like to determine the chain .of responsibility. " City Administrator Norman stated Sgt. Phaney's request for information is appropriate and staff would be glad to provide that information. Councilmember Elvig asked what the past practice is of how Connexus monitors meters. Utilities Supervisor Nelson explained Connexus reads the meters with meter guns, and if they can't get a reading they send the City information for a meter repair. Many times a meter cannot Finance Committee I July 25, 2006 Page 3 of 6