By Marcus McClain
NEA Town Courier
In the first meeting of the year, the Blytheville utility committee heard a presentation from Emilie Zalfini of Home Service. The company has partnered with the National League of Cities to offer homeowners protection against damage to water lines falling under their responsibility.
Their desire to partner with municipalities comes through a request to use cities’ seal in their mail-marketing campaigns.
“We know communities are doing everything they can to update and maintain all sorts of public infrastructure. But on the homeowner side, there’s really just not much you can do. That’s why the NLC started to look into programs like this one, to make sure programs like these are available to everyone across the country,” Zalfini said.
“Our first goal is to educate residents on their responsibilities for water and sewer lines on their property. While at the same time we offer the option of protection on their external water lines, external sewer lines and their in-home plumbing. It’s done with a turnkey approach, meaning we handle everything from the marketing, billing, claims, customer service, etc. And it costs the city nothing to participate.”
She added that once partnered, Home Service begins to build a network with local contractors for any repairs residents may need. With call centers available 24-hours a day, claims would be made directly to Home Service and contractors that the residents are more familiar with are made aware of the request.
If residents were to sign up, both external water and sewer line plans would receive up to $8,500 of protection per incident. The in-home plumbing plan would include up to $3,000 per incident. Zalfini also included that there is no limit on the number of claims that can be filed in a year, along with no service fees or deductibles.
Concerning program costs, Zalfini stated that the water line protection is $6.49/month, the sewer line protection is $8.49/month and the in-home plumbing plan is $9.49/month
“I always like to point out, this is not a reimbursement program. As long as [the resident] is enrolled, they give us a call and we set them up with a local contractor and send him/her out. And then once the job is complete, we pay the contractor directly. So no money exchanges hands between the homeowner and contractor,” Zalfini said.
“The partnership with the city comes into play with helping us introduce the program. Anything that people get in the mail is likely to go in the trash. For that reason, we ask cities for the use of the city logo on some of the marketing material, usually at least the outer envelope. It’s what helps us to get people opening the letters and reading them. The more people who read them, more enroll, there’s better pricing and protection we can maintain and we can build a better local contractor network.”
In turn, a small revenue would be paid to the city consisting of 50 cents per month per paid warranty. She noted that the funds are paid out in the form of a royalty once a year, normally around January.
The committee, consisting of newly elected chair Shirley Marshall, new council member Jacquin Benson, Jr., and council member Matt Perrin, essentially tabled the matter for further discussion in the future.
The committee and council were also informed of the necessity of two members to attend a one-day training course concerning the water department. The training would further bring the council into compliance with the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, and increase possible funding for the city. Councilman Matt Perrin previously attended the training and spoke to its benefit.