Tamaroa Adopts Wait and See Attitude on Water Rate Increase
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Village of Tamaroa will deliver a check for $1,306,299 to Farmers and Merchants Bank to pay off the loan for the water project on Thursday. The village will then owe Rural Development the same amount.
Rural Development and Southern Engineering submitted some proposed water rates for both rural and in-town customers. The proposed rates were approximately $.30 higher than the current rates, but considerably lower than the rates paid by the CPWD customers.
Former Mayor Bill Place objected to raising the rates. He said that unless the board can prove a need for the additional revenue, he would 'pitch a fit' about a rate increase.
"Eight years ago we sold the water project to the village by promising to lower rates," Place said.
The board agreed to do nothing for several months then evaluate the situation. If the village is not brining in enough to cover the debt service for the water project then rates will go up. If they're brining in more than they need, the rates can go down at that time.
The board approved invoices for $15,102 for Southern Engineering for employee training, inspection, administration, design work and easement work on the water project.
An invoice for $1,203 for design work on the new work on the Community Center was also approved. Doug Pollex of Southern Engineering said he hopes the state architect will approve the plans for the roof this week. Then a bid package can be put together.
Trustee Kirk Pestka reported that the Community Center is badly in need of brick work and repairs to the interior caused by water leaks. He received a bid of $40,000 for all of the work from Acucoat, the company sealing Tamaroa Grade School. The interior work cannot be done until the roof is fixed and the exterior work cannot be done until spring. The board discussed using funds from the train derailment settlement to pay for the necessary repairs. The village would repay the funds as they became available.
In other business, the board:
rejected a bid of $850 for both the dump truck and snow plow. Mayor Curtis Stube said he would use the truck as a trade-in on the new one which should be ready by the end of the month. He said the dealer offered about $3,500 for trade-in of the old dump truck.
heard from employee Tiffany Kujawa that she called a plumber to fix the drain in the locker room. He will be back Monday to use a roto-rooter on the drain. If that does not work, he will need to send a camera down the drain to determine the problem.
heard from Village Attorney Matt Foster that the Perry County Youth Court needs community service projects for juvenile offenders. If the Village has projects that need to be completed, they should contact Circuit Clerk Kim Kellerman.
agreed to assign the remaining time on the Comcast cable TV franchise agreement to New Wave Communications, which is purchasing Comcast's operations in Perry and Franklin Counties.
heard from Eileen Koenegstein that she is still catching raccoons, opossums and other critters in the high grass at her neighbors' homes. One home is unoccupied. The porch has caved in and the back door has been open since January. Foster said that now that the village has hired additional employees, Tamaroa could notify the property owners that they must mow. If they don't, then do it for them and place a lien on the property. The Fire Chief should inspect the unoccupied house to determine whether or not it should be condemned.
agreed to use the abate a portion of Tammy Copus' sewer bill. Copus had a water leak and agreed she should have to pay for the full cost of the water. However, the water did not enter the sewer system. The board agreed. Former Mayor Bill Place said the village has always reduced the sewer bill to the average of the three months prior to the leak.
discussed personnel policy. Trustee Betty Roberts had updated the section addressing employee leave. The board will review the changes and may take action at the next meeting.
agreed to designate the property from the first ball diamond fence south as Village of Tamaroa Community Center and the rest of the property as the Village Park as per the parcel descriptions.
agreed that the Village employees should use an empty building to house salt and cinders at the Community Center instead of building a new facility for it. Employees can also relocate their office/workshop if necessary. Roberts asked if the old Police Department office could be used for the new SCADA water equipment. The board agreed that would be a good idea.
agreed that water and sewer customers will have their serve turned off 10 days after the bill was due.