City considers requiring meter deposit, looks to build Decatur website

DECATUR - Council members, on Aug. 12, considered an ordinance requiring a water meter deposit, reviewed applicants for a janitor’s post and discussed the need for a city website.

An ordinance dealing with water meter deposit rates sets a water meter deposit of “$100 to be paid for each meter installed.” This amount will be refunded to the customer whenservice is discontinued unless there is an outstanding balance owed to the city.

Ordinance 13-05 has a provision that makes the city water clerk responsible for making a determination on whether a water meter deposit is owed to the customer once service is discontinued.

Should the customer wish to challenge the water clerk’s decision, a written appeal can be submitted to the mayor orcity clerk’s offi ce within 30 days from the date of the water clerk’s determination. The mayor and or city clerk will submit the challenge to the city council for review and judgement.

The need for this ordinance arose from several incidents reported to the city council in recent months. According to council member David Sutton, “When people move in (to Decatur), by the time their first bill is due they may go delinquent on that. Then they don’t pay for another month’s service before moving out. They get two months service free before we catch it.”

Over the past few months, the incidents Sutton described occurred several times, costing Decatur valuable water department revenue. This prompted the writing of a new city ordinance that would “prevent” this “free water” scenario from happening again.

Once council members were satisfi ed the ordinance was properly worded to prevent misinterpretation, they voted to approve it on its second reading. The ordinance will be broughtback for a third and fi nal reading next month.

Linam also announced the retirement of Jane MacAdoo, who has served as janitor to all the Decatur municipal buildings. MacAdoo has worked part time for the city for the past 25 years.

James Boston and Kim Goble interviewed several candidates for the position and brought their choices to the city council for review.

One city council member remarked, “It was hard to replace Jane and her long, dedicated service to the city of Decatur.”

The council discussed setting up a city website.

Council member Bob Tharp reported that the newly formed Decatur Economics Development Committee, in its fi rst meeting the week of Aug. 5, discussed the topic. According to Tharp, the need for the city of Decatur to enter the information age is, “much past due, and the committee feels that we, as a city, really need a website.”

The council agreed that having a city website would be a plus for the community and are launching a search for someone to build, update and maintain the city of Decatur website for a cost not to exceed $3,000. Anyone interested in the project should contact the mayor or city clerk at 752-3912.

News, Pages 1 on 08/21/2013