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Thursday, 19 April 2007 |
By Buck Traxler, I-O Editor
To the surprise of no one, on a 4-0 vote by the city council, utility rates were bumped up and will be reflected on this month’s bill.
A final public hearing was held at 8 p.m. to field public comment on the proposed rate hike. With no one showing up to make a comment, the public portion of the meeting was closed and council went back into the regular meeting to take action.
Water rates will go up three percent, sewer rates five percent and solid waste five percent. Alderman Gary Brown made the motion with a second by Wally McHenry.
After the motion passed, Mayor John Shevlin said, “This is the hardest thing I’ve had to do since I became mayor.”
In other business the council passed four building permits. One is at 519 7th Ave. SW for a new residence, one at 315 S. Dakota for a new shop, one at 508 S. Wisconsin for a garage and one for a fence at 300 Front St., which is the depot building.
A Growth Policy Committee was formed to move forward on a grant application, it is comprised of councilwoman Wendy Judisch, Judy Ellis, Karla Breding, Laurie Eisenzimer and Barb Shephard.
Appointments were made to the City Code Committee and they are: Gary Brown, administrative; Mayor Shevlin, boards and commissions; Sandy Syvertson, business regulations; Wally McHenry, building regulations; Chief Kevin Moritz, fire regulations; Chief Gary Dent, police and traffic regulations; Agnes Fowler and Richard Anderson, health and sanitation; Anderson, public ways and property and Judisch, employment.
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Thursday, 19 April 2007 |
The Cowgirls and Cowboy track team got to see some action over the past week, going to meets in Great Falls and the Lions Club Invitational in Havre on Saturday.
In the Electric City, no team scores are kept, just results.
For the Cowgirls, Melissa Barringer went over the bar at 7-0 in the pole vault, finished a long jump at 13-10 and ran the 10m in 14.0. Kyra Brauer went over the bar at 7-6 in the pole vault and 4-4 in the high jump.
Julie Brown heaved the shot put 34-4 and tossed the javelin 120-6. Jayleen Harris ran the 200m in 29.7 and cleared the pole vault bar at 6-0. Roberta Kronebusch flipped the discus 63-1 and threw the spear 60-6. Katelyn VanderVeen ran the 100m in 14.8 and the 200m in 31.2.
On the boys’ side, Cork Chase came down the track in 12.8 in the 100m. Patrick Fagan ran the 100m in 13.6, and the 200m in 28.6. Dan Hadcock ran a 12.8 in the 100m and went over the bar in the high jump at 5-2.
Clark Irvin ran a 24.2 200m, had a time of 42.8 in the 300H while Aaron Lehnerz ran a 12.8 100m and did the pole vault at 9-0.
Cutter Martin clocked in 2:25.9 for the 800m and also went over the bar at 9-0 in the pole vault. Boyd Matheson tossed the shot put 33-3 and Josiah Moerkerke ran the 300H in 48.8 and did the pole vault in 9-0.
Paul O’Brien tossed the shot put 32-4, David Ratzburg ran a 13.6 100m, Stefan Sommer ran a 26.2 200m and Norman Vanderbush heaved the shot put 31-3, threw the flat dish 93-3 and tossed the javelin 91-0.
The boys’ 4x400 relay team of Martin, Brandon Philipps, O’Brien and Vanderbush had a time of 4:15.7. The 4x100 team of Philipps, Sommer, Moerkerke and Martin were clocked in at 48.1.
The 4x100 girls’ relay team of Barringer, Harris, Brauer, and Brown ran a 55.5 time.
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Wednesday, 11 April 2007 |
By Buck Traxler, I-O Editor
If it had been a TV show it would have been canceled for low Neilson ratings. You could cram all the people that showed up for a utility hike public hearing at Norley Hall on Tuesday into a VW Bug and still had room left over.
Mayor John Shelvin opened the meeting promptly at 7 p.m. and like Tom Ring of the DEQ at the MATL transmission line hearing last Tuesday, cautioned those there to, “Keep it clean, you are being recorded.”
He really didn’t need to caution folks, because no one had a public comment on the utility hike.
Jerry and Velda Cowie, former residents of Utah, were on hand just out of curiosity and to see what was going on.
Final decision of the rates will be made at the regular council meeting on April 16 following an additional public hearing at 8 p.m.
The new rate will continue to be based off the minimum of 5,000 gallons of water use in the winter months and 10,000 gallons of summer use.
Besides water use, the utility hikes also include wastewater and solid waste rate increases.
Council members are building a reserve fund for construction costs that will meet discharge permit requirements and bring us into compliance with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
The estimated cost of improvements is about $2.3 million, which is needed to pay the bond principal and interest, provide a bond reserve, and cover engineering and inflationary costs.
A change in the solid waste rates would increase revenues for solid waste collection, fund the reserve for the possible replacement of the current system, make sure that annual alley clean-ups are continued and cover inflationary costs.
 Mayor John Shevlin
The current water rates for winter usage (5,000 gallons) are $32.08. This stays the same in the summer months when the minimum gallon use is bumped up to 10,000 gallons.
The new-metered rate, which comes out to be about three percent, would be $33.04 for the minimum 5,000 gallons of water use in the winter and would be the same for 10,000 gallons during the summer months.
If a user exceeds the minimum for the month, you would pay nine cents more per 1,000 gallons in the winter and three cents more per 1,000 gallons in the summer.
The current base rate sewer charge for a metered minimum of 1,000 gallons is $14.83. The cost over the minimum, 1,000 gallons, is $1.52.
The new proposed rate for a minimum of 1,000 gallons (metered) is proposed at $15.57 with a bump of eight cents to $1.60 for going 1,000 gallons over the minimum.
The proposed increase for the sewer would be .74 cents more per month and if the average exceeds the minimum, it would be eight cents more per 1,000 gallons.
The current charge on solid waste for a residential minimum is $7.80 with the dumpster minimum being $14.71.
The new rate increase that is proposed is $8.19 for residential and $15.45 for dumpster.
That comes out to be .39 cents more per month based on the residential minimum and .74 cents more per month based on the dumpster minimum.
There will be a final public hearing at 8 p.m. during the regular meeting of the city council on April 16. Following that, aldermen will vote on the proposed rate increases.
If you have further questions or need more information, contact Mayor Shevlin at city hall, 271-3623. |
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