Copperas Cove city manager gives brief update on utility department transition

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

After announcing at Tuesday’s Copperas Cove city council workshop that he would be making an announcement during Tuesday’s meeting, Copperas Cove City Manager Ryan Haverlah instead took to Facebook on Wednesday afternoon to provide a brief update on the city’s Utility Administration transition to taking back billing services with the imminent closure of FATHOM.

Haverlah announced that presently FATHOM is still accepting and processing payments, taking calls through its call center, and sending out bills for Copperas Cove utilities.

“The current out-of-business date is, right now, Dec. 9,” Haverlah announced during the brief video. “Additional vendors continue to provide funding to allow FATHOM to temporarily operate while their clients work toward other solutions.”

The City of Copperas Cove is one of those clients across the country, and it has been beefing up its customer service lineup at Copperas Cove City Hall.

“Our local Utility Administration office is fully functioning. We’ve hired additional staff and those staff are being trained to provide service to our customers,” Haverlah announced.

The city’s Utility Administration office is currently at 914 S. Main St. Suite A.

Presently, customers stopping by that office should expect a wait.

“If customers do go there to pay their bill, or inquire about services, or their bill, there is a 20- to 30-minute wait time depending upon the length of the line. Payments may be dropped off at that location and you will receive a receipt for that dropped off payment,” Haverlah said.

As far as automatic payments and calling in to FATHOM, Haverlah did not provide an update on those specific items, but did say FATHOM is still operating through Monday, Dec. 9.

During his video on the city’s page, Haverlah said he does anticipate that there will be a special city council meeting next week, for city council to authorize staff to execute agreements with new service providers.

Those service providers include the software that the city’s utility department employees will use for billing such as a customer information system, customer portal, work order system, payment processor, as well as a bill printer/mailer.

Haverlah encouraged residents to “keep an eye out for future press releases and sign up for the city’s Facebook notices of the most current, up-to-date information.”