MANSFIELD — The leaders of Debt Recovery Services of Ohio on Tuesday defended their collection efforts on delinquent City of Mansfield water accounts.
Cathy Shambre, president of DRS of Ohio, and Bethany Robertson, the company’s vice president, told City Council they were “astonished” to hear some city officials were seemingly blaming the company for not more effectively collecting on past-due accounts.
Council approved an agreement in October 2020 with DRS to work as a third-party debt collector for the City of Mansfield to pursue delinquent water and sewer accounts.
At a council meeting on Oct. 18, as council began discussing a proposal to raise water rates, local lawmakers pressed city administration for an update on that collection effort.
Public Works Director Dave Remy said the city presented DRS with $405,000 in delinquent accounts from 2018-2020.
Remy said just $1,600 of the $405,000 has been collected by DRS, a number that seemed to frustrate council members being asked to again raise rates.
However, Shambre said DRS was not given accounts to pursue until August 2022 — nearly two years after the contract was signed. She said the agency was given 33 accounts from 2017.
“That means these accounts are 5 years old,” she said. “I know this has been a big issue and everyone has been asking, ‘What’s going on with Debt Recovery Solutions? What are they doing?’
“Well, we weren’t doing anything because we couldn’t get the accounts. We were really actually trying to get the accounts. So we are here to explain to you our side of it so you know exactly what went on,” Shambre said.
Robertson said DRS has worked with the city since the contract was signed, most of which has involved city software issues. She said the agency has now received about $480,000 in overdue accounts from 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
“We’ve collected a little over $4,000 of those,” she said.
Robertson said she has personally worked with city utilities collection employees “free of charge,” to help them better understand the software program used by the city.
“What I really want to encourage you to do is to look at the process of the utility company and the billing,” Robertson said. “I don’t know what you paid for the software system.
“There’s a lot of knowledge that can be had and you can utilize a software system that you currently have to improve processes and procedures.”
She said she helped the city employees learn what the software system was capable of doing and how it can be integrated into the DRS collections system.
“There was a lot of learning back and forth and I had to get my hands into the system to figure out what it was even capable of. I guess the main reason we’re here is yes, there’s numbers that were given to us and we’re gonna go after them with all force and intent,” Robertson said.
She said DRS would be happy to consult with and assist the city’s utility collections workers.
“I’m happy to get into the system, show them what a spreadsheet is, show them how to pull up, show them how to automate it to maximize their use of the system and minimize payroll actually that you’re spending,” Robertson said.
At-large Councilwoman Stephanie Zader praised the work of DRS, adding she has known Shambre for years.
“I have full faith in her ability to take care of this and your organization’s ability to take care of it. I think I probably speak for most of council that it wasn’t a questioning of your ability or your want to do the job,” Zader said.
“We understood that there were internal issues that were happening that needed to be addressed. And we still understand that. And there are ongoing conversations that we’re having. I appreciate you guys and what you’ve done to try to help us get to the finish line with this. We know that we have a lot of work ahead of us … figuring this out,” Zader said.
Her words were echoed by 4th Ward Councilman Alomar Davenport.
“We knew there were shortcomings on our end,” he said.
Remy said he had communicated with Shambre and Robertson after the Oct. 18 meeting.
The public works director said there was a meeting scheduled Thursday morning with utility collection leaders “to discuss these issues and get their input … we’re not ignoring this situation.”
