The Utilities Committee met 02/22/2022 and received a brief update regarding the AquaHawk water usage monitoring system that the city has made available to residents and the questions that had been raised during the previous Utilities Committee meeting.
A female staff member confirmed that a landlord could create an AquaHawk account for a property they rented out, but they would need to have the customer number as well as the account number to establish that account.
The city was looking at doing another mailer to all its customers later this year regarding AquaHawk, and they were also going to see about doing a target mailer specifically to landlords regarding how they could sign up for AquaHawk.
Alderperson Vered Meltzer (District 2) who was the chairperson of the committee asked if there was going to be any sort of social media outreach.
Director of Public Works Paula Vandehey said they have done social media posts twice a year and will continue to do that. Additionally, AquaHawk information would be in the Public Works Guide again, and they would include a stuffer in the utility bill. All of those things they had done in the past; the new thing was sending a specialized letter to landlords.
Alderperson Michael Smith (District 10) wanted to clarify what the Public Works Guide was. He thought it was mailed twice a year.
Director Vandehey said the Public Works Guide was mailed once a year and contained all Public Works information. (https://www.appleton.org/government/public-works-guide)
Alderperson Smith thought that the special letter to landlords was a good idea because they might not always get the things that were mailed to tenants. He appreciated the good ideas.
Alderperson Meltzer said it was also important for the elected officials to be aware of and communicative about AquaHawk and how it works because often they were going to be one of the first points of contact when people are concerned or confused about something. It was important for alderpersons to be able to robustly provide this information.
Director Vandehey thanked Alderperson Meltzer for that and said it reminded her that they were going to ask that alderpersons be proactive and mention it in any newsletters or emails they send out. She noted that it was campaign season and a lot of alderpersons were out knocking on doors as they sought reelection. It would be awesome if alderpersons could also do outreach on the AquaHawk option.
Alderperson Meltzer thought it was very timely and said, “hopefully by April everyone in the city will know about AquaHawk,” before going on to thank staff for their work on this. “I really enjoy how much we care about our community and just the hard work that staff does is very commendable. Thank you.”
Sign up for an AquaHawk Account here: https://www.appleton.org/residents/water/customer-portal
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=929590&GUID=4BB026A7-2021-4B12-B2D2-9B78FF7F4F79
Be the first to reply