Dowell Disputes Elkville Charges

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ The Elkville village board recently voted to send Dowell a bill for going over Dowell's daily limit of 50,000 gallons for sewerage processing at the Elkville-owned plant with a penalty charge of $4 per 1,000 gallons over the 50,000 gallons.

Dowell board member Glenn Jansen attended last week's April Elkville meeting to discuss the town's dispute over the matter.

Jansen told the board the contract states that Elkville would pay two-thirds of the operations and maintenance of the sewer plant, which it owns, and Dowell would pay one third. However, there is a dispute over when those fees should be assessed. Currently Elkville checks its flow meter daily, while Jansen says the meter should be checked monthly.

In addition, Jansen was upset about the penalty fee for going over the gallon limit; a penalty that is allowed by the contract. Jansen said that he figured the normal cost to be 69 cents per 1,000 gallons and then asked why the figure drastically increased to $4 when it breached the limit.

There is no penalty clause for when Elkville has overflow since they own the plant, but Jansen says that since Elkville doesn't have a penalty it forces Dowell to pay more than it's share.

Though the topic was discussed for some time, little progress was made. Both parties intend to contact the contract author and sit and talk about the payment.

Other items addressed on the agenda...

Tabled the stop sign ordinance until the next meeting. The ball field resolution was also tabled to the next meeting.

Passed the city speed ordinance setting the city speed to 25 mph. This does not affect Hwy. 51, Elkville blacktop or Royalton blacktop. The ordinance will take into effect after being on display for 10 days and signs of the speed limit are posted.

Passed the impound fee ordinance addressing the cost of housing animals in the pound. There is a $50 fee for the first day it is taken in and an additional $10 per day there after.

Tabled the out of town fire calls ordinance because the details of the "subscription" option are still under review.

Swore in new zoning committeepersons Tina Tow and Jerry Beard.

May 15 is the city-wide spring clean up day. Residents are to have their items placed on the curb the night before.

The city also discussed starting up an Elkville website to "enter the 21st century." No action was taken.