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discount. It makes sense to give that discount to those two (2) entities because we don't have as <br />many administrative costs related to them. <br />Councilmember Davis asked if the numbers Councilmember Dr. Varner spoke about can be <br />added to this ordinance now. <br />Mr. Horvath stated this is up for reading tonight, so it would be fine to do so tonight. If the <br />Council wants to change it to a five percent (5 %), five percent (5 %), and four percent (4 %) that <br />is fine. Mr. Horvath passed out a handout which contained comparisons of projects for South <br />Bend, Mishawaka, and Elkhart. The handout is on file with the City Clerk's Office. <br />Councilmember Dr. Varner stated the attempt to standardize this is a good idea and making the <br />City competitive with our competitors has also been a good idea. The Department of Public <br />Works has done a good job working with the Council on those issues. He asked if we have a <br />special rate contract, and a surcharge which will not be charged, is it possible as part of the <br />ordinance to require that no entity will be the recipient of a double discount. <br />Mr. Horvath responded the surcharge exemption is specific to only customers that will be sale <br />for resale customers. The entity with the special rate would not qualify as a sale for resale <br />customer. The County has an area around Auten Road where there is a small sewer district. The <br />County is also working on a sewer district for Carriage Hills. The way that works is the district <br />does their own billing and administrative work for that sewer. The County does this in areas <br />where sewers are failing. Right now they receive the regular rate. For anyone with a current <br />special rate this would not affect them but once their term is up, the provisions in this ordinance <br />would not allow them to get the double discount. <br />Councilmember Dr. Varner stated his concern is that we could have an entity that would <br />somehow accrue a thirty percent (30 %) discount. There is an equity issue that we need to look at <br />without being too difficult. This is certainly a complicated issue. Councilmember Dr. Varner <br />opened the floor to public comment. <br />Bill Schalliol, St. Joseph County Economic Development Director, stated he appreciates the <br />changes that the City has made over this process. He stated he does have a concern about the <br />language regarding special contracts with the Board of Public Works. It seems like the City <br />could at some arbitrary point could come back and raise the water costs. <br />Councilmember Dr. Varner stated only if the usage of a site far exceeds the usage of the original <br />permit and the burden of proof would be on the Board of Public Works. <br />Mr. Horvath stated we provided clarification in the ordinance. We just wanted to make sure a <br />developer could not come in with the original permit and claim they will only use one hundred <br />(100) gallons of waste water but then a year in are using ten (10) times that. This allows us to <br />receive additional buy -in from the developer if they far exceed their initial permit. We state that <br />a permanent increase shall be incurred when a site exceeds its permit for six (6) consecutive <br />months by three hundred and ten (3 10) gallons a day. It has to exceed that for a period of six (6) <br />consecutive months. Only then would we initiate this process. <br />2 <br />