Marion council sympathetic, but offers no forgiveness of water bill
Staff reporter
Marion City Council decided not to set a precedent Monday by forgiving a $626 water bill for a customer.
City utility billing clerk Becky Makovec reported to the council that 242,000 gallons of water, enough to fill the city's former swimming pool, was charged to a customer after city workers turned on the water at a residence. There was a water leak under the house that went undetected for several days.
As a result, the customer was charged for the water usage.
Councilman Stacey Collett said his concern was the city taking any kind of responsibility for the water leak by waiving or discounting the charges.
The house was vacant for 15 months and the owner should have had the house checked prior to turning on utilities, Harvey Sanders, public works director, said.
Makovec said the tenant was a construction worker for the new swimming pool and will only be here for a short time. So if any payment plan is approved, it needs to be in a shorter time period so the bill will be paid before he moves.
Councilman Jerry Kline said he would be in favor of giving the customer a break and requiring him to only pay half.
With no motion made, Mayor Mary Olson said the council would move on and the customer would be required to pay the bill.
Collett asked if the city needed to consider changing its policy regarding the connection of utilities. Sanders responded that the city is responsible for connecting the utilities and the owner or tenant has to be there to make sure everything is working properly, so no policies needed to be changed.
New streets at Country Club Heights
A petition signed by eight property owners at Country Club Heights Addition assured the council that the owners are willing to pay their share of new streets at the addition.
Property owners approved up to $81,000 for the improvements. The property owners who signed the petition represented at least 51 percent of the owners.
The council accepted the petition, 3-1, with Collett opposing. Councilman Bill Holdeman was absent from the meeting.
The council then approved, 4-0, a six-inch asphalt overlay for $68,340 and rock shoulders for $5,499 for Country Club Drive and Fairway Drive. The bid was from Shilling Construction Company, Inc.
The work will be completed in mid-November.
The council also approved a resolution that was required for city improvements, 3-1, with Collett opposed.
Emergency preparedness
Marion County Emergency Preparedness Director Michelle Abbott-Becker informed the council of the process required in case of disaster.
She said there is the confusion that the state would come in and take over which is not true.
"The city or county has to sustain for the first 72 hours," Abbott-Becker said. State agencies then may come in and assist but do not take over the operations.
According to state statute, disaster planning and preparedness is managed on the county level. Counties are required to have a person on staff for at least 20 hours per week. Abbott-Becker said she works as the liaison between the city and state officials. The state then determines the level of response.
Abbott-Becker encouraged city officials to become National Incident Management System certified.
