Shannon Village Board Continues Water Meter Discussion

By JOHN HUGGINS | For The Prairie Advocate News

SHANNON – The Shannon Village Board postponed their first meeting of 2013 a few days, from Tuesday, January 1 to Thursday, January 3, 2013, in consideration of the holidays. The Village President Bonnie Foust and all trustees, except Troy Lessman, were present.

The meeting was dominated by various aspects of water and sewer rates, usage, and possible metering of businesses and residents. At the previous meeting on December 4, 2012 the board voted that all business and residential monthly water rates and sewer rates would be raised $2.00 each respectively. Village attorney Kipp Meyers drew up the ordinance for the January 3 meeting so that the change would take effect before the bills were sent out in January.

However, the consideration of the ordinance did not get put on the agenda, so it could not be passed and will be on the agenda for the February meeting.

This means those billed monthly would have one more month before the rates change. It was decided that the bill for those who paid annually would be put off until February, a month later than usual.

The possibility of placing water meters on businesses and residences was discussed again. It would be possible to use the $36,000 in funds remaining from a grant to pay for some of the meters. The representative from Fehr-Graham Engineering stated some of the remote access meters for businesses could cost as much as $5,000 each.

Trustee Wayne Gaul had offered at the prior meeting to purchase one with his own money to use as a test at his business. He quickly rescinded the proposal after he heard the price. “I figured they would only cost a couple hundred dollars when I made that offer,” stated Gaul.

The board may decide to install test meters at several businesses and residences, to get a better idea of the number of gallons per month being used by various groups.

At the December meeting the board had discussed setting up a water and sewer committee meeting to assess changes in the fees for businesses. The meeting never took place. So, the committee set a meeting for Wednesday, January 9 at 6:00 pm. The rates for businesses will be discussed, as well as continuing the discussion of installing water meters.

The next regular board meeting is scheduled for February 5.