A Curmudgeon Quickie: WTH, FATHOM? And, the tossing of hats

Curmudgeon mentioned FATHOM at the end of the last post.

Well, it's a curious thing that happened during the July 17 Copperas Cove city council workshop. Interim City Manager Haverlah said the dollar amount of the lost revenue from the senior citizen discount listed in the proposed budget for the Water & Sewer Fund was WRONG.

Now, how was it wrong and why?

If you watch the video from the July 17 meeting, Mr. Haverlah explains that the city's director of finances, Velia Key, figured out that the amount being coded or reported as the senior discount, is not the senior discount. It was the payments being received by seniors, or something to that effect. 

I know, Mr. Payne. I know. He sat there like this for a good 30 seconds. 

So she did an audit at the account level and figured out what it was. 

Hmmmm.....so why would FATHOM give the city a wrong number? 

Mr. Haverlah went on to say that the city had made improvements where its utility accounts were concerned and that this coding issue was a small thing. 

Curmudgeon is sorry-not-sorry, but confidence is low in FATHOM due to the floundering, stumbling, bumbling at the individual account levels. Curmudgeon does NOT need to remind you, dear readers, of the issues - legitimate issues- which have come up over the last two years.
Their email didn't work.
Their website was inconsistent with log-in issues.
The transmitters went down and didn't collect correctly (brand new!).
Bills coming out within a week or two of each other.
*They called solid waste rubbish.
*They called the drianage fee a storm water fee.
*They billed at the net for senior discounts without reflecting the discounts.

*These are not ERRORS, per se, but confusion. The change to FATHOM was painful enough - why confuse your customers? It further erodes confidence.

Which is the same with this coding "issue."

No, Mr. Haverlah. It is not a little thing. The CITY is a customer of FATHOM, too, and should not have to deal with glitches I mean, c'mon, this is a multimillion-dollar company which surely should have its act together.

Councilman David I'm-a-writer-not-a-talker Morris did the right thing in calling for an independent audit of the FATHOM books.

The reader should follow this link:

http://www.newsoforange.com/news/article_293babe2-df80-11e7-b01e-532a6cc2f046.html

Apparently not all is well in FATHOM-land, even as the company continues to sell its rather so-so services to cities. Why should one have to bring the CEO into town for basic customer service issues? Clearly there is an issue in mid-level management that is causing this.

Is it time for the city to consider terminating its contract? We're only 2 years into a 15-year deal.
Why 15 years??????
Why not 5-10?????

OH, it's opening day in election season, y'all!!

Let's see what this first week of filing brings.

Coming up - Curmudgeon's Election tips.

Peace, love, and bunnies,  y'all!