At the Wednesday, January 9 Peterson Council meeting, a number of annual designations and items were discussed. Designations for 2019 will remain the same as last year. Loren Rue was appointed as acting mayor, Councilors Dave Colbenson and Lisa Price will serve as the Finance Committee, and Councilor Gail Boyum will serve as treasurer. Regular meeting times will remain the second Wednesday of each month, at 6 p.m., at city hall.
Review of the fee schedule was broken down by utility and zoning worksheets. Last year, there was a garbage rate increase and a fee schedule for nuisance vehicles was passed in December. With that, the council opted to make no changes to other rates.
Salaries and benefits for city employees also remains the same. This includes Public Works Director Rick Lee, worker Pete Erickson, and City Clerk Chris Grindland. Salaries for the mayor and council, $200 per meeting and $900 per year respectively, remain unchanged.
The majority of meeting discussion centered on how to handle past due utility bills. The city has made proactive strides in the past two years to reduce the occurrence, including adding a percentile late fee, making property owners of rentals ultimately responsible, and certifying all past due accounts to the county for addition to property tax rolls. However, problems with past due accounts still persist.
The city is now working on clearing up the ordinance further by way of shut off policy for both water and electric utility. City shut off of utilities is based on 30 days past due. The council will ultimately makes the call on shut-offs on a case by case basis.
“I’d like to maybe change a couple things, like if paid within 60 or 90 days” noted Grindland. “You can tell if someone is not going to pay their bill or if they’re trying to work with city and come up with a payment plan; trying to pay every month.”
Mayor Tim Hallum acknowledged that by each month’s meeting, a report of all past due accounts, as well as which are trying to work with the city, should be available. “We should have the right to shut off after the 15th,” he added. Hallum was in favor of the council still making the decision. If accounts are past due, a letter is sent from the city noting the account balance, indicating the city be contacted to arrange payment. “Right now, we have no way to enforce until September/October when it gets put on property taxes.”
With the winter shut-off rules in place until April 15, the council intends to look at all accounts in March. A notice of the shut off policy may be added to March billing. “Spell it out to them. It’s right in our fee schedule,” said Hallum. The cost to the account holder to shut off the utilities is $125 with another $125 to reconnect. “Hopefully, we won’t have to,” he added.
Billing is mailed out around the 25th of each month. The council has opted to propose that if a property falls under ordinance guidelines, it would warrant shut off. The account holder will have the right to come to the next council meeting and appeal the decision. The timing allows enough time to contact the city to set up a payment schedule. If no attempt to contact the city has been made and no payment has been made by the 15th, the utility will be shut off.
“This is a tough one,” acknowledged Grindland.
“They’ll know we’re serious about this and start to get caught up,” added Boyum. The final proposed ordinance change will be reviewed and ready for council consideration at the February meeting.
The city is also looking into new banners for the city light poles. The current maroon and gold banners are faded and three have torn. They’ve served the city for six years, but will need replacement. Options to design new banners or reprint the old were discussed with it noted that reprinting keeps costs lower. Boyum will gather price quotes and have the information available at the next meeting.
The next regularly scheduled meeting is Wednesday, February 13, at 6 p.m., at city hall. The public is encouraged to attend.
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