Water & Sewer Utility Billing > $50,000 Sewer Annually

Mr. Purvis,

The original request was sent to the Police Department. The first request MWS received was on August 12, 2016 from Greg Trout. On August 17, 2016, I asked for proof of TN citizenship.

A second request was made on August 22, 2016 from Alexander Smith.. On that same day, I requested proof of Tennessee citizenship from Mr. Smith.

I have not received proof of citizenship from either of the previous requestors.

Please provide proof of TN citizenship for the current request received on October 12, 2016.

Sincerely,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Thank you Mr. Purvis.

Could you please provide responses to the questions below so we can be sure to gather the appropriate data?

Do you want records for $50,000 in water and sewer charges combined or sewer charges alone?
Should we include taxes, etc. in that amount?
Should we include sewer surcharges in that amount?
Would you like this based on individual meter or by account?
Is this previous 12 months from current date?
The term "spending" is used in the request, does that mean billed and paid?

Best,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Mr. Purvis,

We are still awaiting clarification regarding your records request.

Will you please clarify your request by answering the questions below?

Best,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Mr. Purvis,

Thank you for the clarification.

It will take us approximately 10 hours to gather, sort and redact the requested information at a cost of $394.65. ( $43.85 x 9 )

Please advise if this is acceptable and if we should proceed?

Best,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Mr. Purvis,

We are creating a list of service addresses (by account number) that have > $50,000 in sewer billing for the past year, as requested.
The customer name and account number will be redacted.

Please advise if this is not what you have requested.

Best,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Mr. Purvis,

Your request, including account number, customer name, address and amount is being gathered.

Would you prefer the invoice for $394.65 be mailed to you at Apt 486 ; 104 Sawyer Circle, Memphis, TN 38103 or emailed?

Once the payment has been received, I will email the excel spreadsheet with the requested data.

Sincerely,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Mr. Purvis,

Yes, $394.65 will be the cost to gather the requested data.

We can wait until next Friday to proceed.

Best,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Mr. Purvis,

Responses to your questions are below. Please let me know how you would like to proceed.

Would you possibly be able to advise as to why it's been estimated that the list of names and addresses would take the same amount of time to compile as 12 months of billing for each such service address? There may be some confusion here, the name and address is included as part of the listing of customer accounts with sewer charge totals that exceed $50,000.00 for the past 12 months.
Additionally, would you be able to provide an estimate of how many service addresses would be included in a response to my request? No, not until the report is ran and then filtered for totals that exceed $50,000.00.
I'm unsure if it's been noted to this point, but if the (hypothetical at this point) final decision was that I would be going with the billing records as opposed to just the list of service addresses, I'd also like to ensure that the consumption used to calculate water and sewer billings is included - would that affect the charges incurred? Sewer flow totals was not in your original request when the custom report development assessment was calculated and the quote provided to you. Yes, it could possibly increase the amount quoted since the original request was for sewer charge totals for the past 12 months that exceed $50,000.00. Please advise if you would like to proceed with the original request or modify that request to also include sewer flow.
Best,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Mr. Purvis,

There are numerous meters tied to the locations listed and acquiring the account numbers for each will be a manual process.

It will take staff approximately 51.67 hours to research and identify the accounts and build the query, resulting in a total cost of $2,221.88 (50.67*$43.85).

Please advise if you would like us to proceed.

Sincerely,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Mr. Purvis,

For custom report development the cost will not be any cheaper than the original quote of $394.65 as that request was general enough in nature and would not require a lot of manual effort other than the query configuration with custom filtering and logic.

The amount will significantly increase the more specific the request becomes as the report analysis and development will then require a manual process to visually collect and validate the account identifiers. In this case, the request was changed to wanting data on 30 locations. Our Customer database contains in excess of 200k customer accounts that have variable customer data with a one to many relationship. Meaning, there is not a defined structure in the customer name or service address and one customer can have multiple accounts as could the service address.

Examples in name variations: T.S.U., TSU, T S U, Tennessee State University, Tennessee State, State of Tennessee-TSU, TSU/Football Practice Facility

Examples in address variations: 3204 JOHN A MERRITT BLVD, 2700 JOHN A MERRITT BLV, 3800 ALBION ST, 1721 ED TEMPLE BLV, 3200 JOHN A MERRITT BLV, 3500 JOHN A MERRITT BLV, 3400 JOHN A MERRITT BLV, 2800 JOHN A MERRITT BLV, 3100 JOHN A MERRITT BLV, 3700 JOHN A MERRITT BLV, 3700 ALAMEDA ST, 3511 JOHN L DRIVER AVE, 1120 35TH AVE N, 1115 37TH AVE N, 1220 37TH AVE N

Sincerely,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Mr. Purvis,

The estimate is based on the amount of time it will take to develop the custom report. As stated on 12/02 the cost for custom report development will not be any cheaper than the original quote of $394.65 as that request was general enough in nature and would not require a lot of manual effort other than the query configuration with custom filtering and logic. As mentioned on 11/22 there is no redaction as the customer name and address were included in the original report request quote.

There would not be any expected changes in the quote by reducing or increasing the total annual sewer charges filter as the filter would still have to be configured during the report development.

Please advise as to whether or not we shall proceed with the report.

Best,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Mr. Purvis,

The report will be done by one of our Customer Service database professional as I do not have access to the database. In my earlier email, I erroneously stated that redaction was included in the estimated time.

The 10 hours quoted are for custom report development for extracting electronic data and preparation of a deliverable report. It includes defining data needed in report, reviewing metadata to determine needed tables and joins, creating the query, creating report parameters, creating custom filters and aggregate conditions, setting up controls, validating results, etc.

Sincerely,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Mr. Purvis,

The following information will be provided in and Excel spreadsheet:

ACCOUNT CUSTOMER NAME ADDRESS UNIT ZIP AMOUNT

Best,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Mr. Purvis,

Once again, you have revised your request and the custom development amount originally quoted will need to be re-scoped and re-quoted. Please advise if you would like to proceed with the original request made on Oct. 24, 2016 (below)at the previously quoted cost of $394.65 or if you would like for us to re-scope the effort and re-quote based on your February 10th response.

Ms. Allman,
Records specific to facilities receiving over $50,000 in annual sewer charges alone would be ideal - the inclusion of surcharges and taxes would be preferable.
If it's practically feasible to sort the responsive data to include facilities with multiple accounts adding up to over the $50,000 threshold, that would be great, but if not, by account should be fine.
Yes, if possible, 12 months from the current date would be perfect!
Spending was intended to refer to facilities which were billed for and paid for $50,000+ in sewer service-related charges in the previous 12 months - my apologies for the confusion.
Please let me know if you should need any additional information in order to proceed - I hope this message finds you well!

To reiterate our past communications:

On October 20th MWS requested that you clarify your request by answering a series of questions for us to complete our report analysis.

On October 24th, 2016 you clarified your request as "Records specific to facilities receiving over $50,000 in annual sewer charges alone would be ideal - the inclusion of surcharges and taxes would be preferable.
If it's practically feasible to sort the responsive data to include facilities with multiple accounts adding up to over the $50,000 threshold, that would be great, but if not, by account should be fine.
Yes, if possible, 12 months from the current date would be perfect!
Spending was intended to refer to facilities which were billed for and paid for $50,000+ in sewer service-related charges in the previous 12 months - my apologies for the confusion."

On November 7th MWS quoted the cost for the customer report development to be $394.65
On November 8th MWS advised that "we are creating a list of service addresses (by account number) that have > $50,000 in sewer billing for the past year, as requested.
On November 9th MWS followed up advising that "Your request, including account number, customer name, address and amount is being gathered."

On November 17th you advised that you wanted the water and sewer consumption included.

On November 22nd, MWS advised you that your request to include "sewer flow totals was not in your original request when the custom report development assessment was calculated and the quote provided to you. Yes, it could possibly increase the amount quoted since the original request was for sewer charge totals for the past 12 months that exceed $50,000.00."

On February 2nd you responded "To reiterate, I am looking to obtain 12 months of water/sewer billing (itemized if possible and including all relevant consumption information) for all customers who were billed $50,000 or more annually for sewer service (including those customers with multiple accounts which would add up to $50,000 or more annually)."

On February 10th MWS responded "The following information will be provided in and Excel spreadsheet:
ACCOUNT CUSTOMER NAME ADDRESS UNIT ZIP AMOUNT"

On February 10th your request changed "As was noted in my previous e-mail, I'm looking to obtain a full 12 months of billing (set out per bill period, with columns for water and sewer bill amounts and the associated consumption) for each customer included in this report, and noting that the data responsive should include customers with multiple accounts adding up to the $50,000 annual sewer spend threshold. So long as those data points are included, we should be willing to accept the charges you estimated. Could you confirm or advise as to how those adjustments might affect pricing?"

We will not proceed until direction is given and if request is to remain as previously stated on October 24, you advise if the invoice for $394.65 is to be mailed to you at Apt 486 ; 104 Sawyer Circle, Memphis, TN 38103 or emailed.

Sincerely,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Mr. Purvis,

Based on what was originally quoted and the revision to the request, we have some additional questions and clarifications before we can complete the re-quote. Will you please respond to the following?

* Should the water charges include any applicable billed taxes?
* Should the report include only the water and sewer total usage or should it show the actual usage for each meter/service for each bill period?
* A single account may have one or more meters/services. Only singular accounts with sewerage charges greater than $50,000 will be selected based on the filter request. As stated on 11/29/2016 linking multiple accounts together would be a manual process. Are you requesting that we link accounts?

Best,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Carlton,

We are still not completely clear on what you are requesting….

The vast majority of all sewer billings are based on implied registered water usage (meaning sewer is not metered for 99.9% of our customers). If you’re trying to back into the water charges based on usage then we would need to include the customer class and meter size as that is how our rates are configured. Would you agree and is this what you’re attempting to do?

In the matter of linking accounts, what common thing would we be linking on as the account numbers would be different as well as most likely the customer name and property address too? As indicated on 11/29 this may become a manual process and would more than likely meet or exceed the original quote of 51.67 hours to research and identify the accounts and build the query.

Regarding the next question which is not real clear, please clarify what you mean by “total for the threshold assessment” and “include all accounts for a customer with a single account which meets the threshold”.

Best,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Carlton,
Please see the response to your questions below in blue.
I'm actually not certain what item would be most useful in linking accounts, especially in the case that customer names would differ on an account-to-account basis. Is it possible that the mail-care-of name or mailing address for bills would be the same for a particular customer regardless of customer name and service address? If not, could you advise as to how best I might go about linking accounts otherwise? Not necessarily, commercial accounts are subject to have a different mailing address for each account based on the responsible party that oversees the billing or remits payment for the department, branch, etc. of the commercial customer. As stated previously, this would become a manual process to research and identify a way to link individual accounts.
Short of trying to sort out a method of linking accounts, I might simply go the route of requesting individual accounts that exceed the threshold. In that case, it might be helpful to lower the threshold in order to capture accounts for customers with multiple significant billing accounts. As most of the processing of this request seems as if it will be done via a database search query, I don't imagine that lowering the threshold (for example, to $25,000 in sewer billing annually) would have too much impact on the costs - could you advise? As mentioned previously, there would not be any expected changes in the quote by reducing or increasing the total annual sewer charges filter as the filter would still have to be configured during the report development.
Please advise if you would like a revised quote for the development of a custom report of all accounts where sewer exceeds $50,000 annually in charges. The report would include total billed sewer flow and associated water charges and consumption broken out by billing period and would also include rate configuration data such as; customer class and meter size for the requestor to back into the charges for consumption/flow.
Best,
Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>

Carlton,

A custom report of all accounts where sewer exceeds $50,000 annually in charges and includes total billed sewer flow and associated water charges and consumption broken out by billing period and also rate configuration data such as; customer class and meter size for the requestor to back into the charges for consumption/flow will take approximately 15 hours to create at a cost of $613.90. ($43.85 x 14).

If you would like to proceed, please advise if the invoice should be mailed to you at Apt 486 ; 104 Sawyer Circle, Memphis, TN 38103 or emailed to requests@muckrock.com<mailto:requests@muckrock.com>

Sincerely,

Sonia Allman
Manager of Strategic Communications
Metro Water Services
(615) 862-4494

Access account information and pay your bill online<https://mwsonline.nashville.gov/iwr/user/login.seam>