The Minonk City Council grappled with the issue of unpaid water bills
at their normal Monday night meeting. City Administrator Trent
Smith said the city tries to work with the tenants for late bills if
they try and make arrangements. Smith added that if they do not pay, it
just adds to the bill and they fall behind even further. Most of the
bills get paid, but there are a few landlords that get stuck when the
tenants walk out since Minonk City Code (13.02.070) states that the
owner of a property is ultimately responsible for the City utility bill
on their rental units. The City does charge a $75.00 deposit to help
offset some of the costs for the landlord.
Smith said that the landlords are asking the City of Minonk not to
charge them for delinquent rental accounts. Smith said that it
would cost the City a lot of money if no one paid these delinquent
accounts and the City would be stuck with these unpaid bills.
Alderman Fortner asked if the City could make a different rate for
rental accounts and City Administrator Trent Smith responded no.
Alderman Petersen said that he felt for the renters but
wondered if maybe adding a little to the deposit instead of raising
rates for everybody.
Jim Brown (rental property owner) said that he did not know how
the City can hold the landlord responsible for somebody else’s bill.
Randy Kleen (rental property owner) said that Bloomington and
Normal do not go after the landlords for delinquent bills, they go
after the renters.
Jim Brown suggested raising the deposit for rental accounts.
Randy Kleen said that when renters move and are delinquent he
has to pay the past bill or he cannot rent out his unit. He further
added that Bloomington just recently changed their ordinance to go
after the renter rather than the property owner and Normal has never
had an ordinance.
Alderman Petersen asked Trent if he had any solid numbers to
come up with and how much would it cost the City to absorb the cost.
Smith responded that it was possible and just recently one landlord
owes $800.
Alderman Fortner said to raise the deposit for renters.
Alderman Ruestman said to up the deposit to $150 for renters.
Alderman Petersen asked how many people are going to be able to afford
to rent and asked Trent the most somebody could be behind in their
water bill.
Administrator Smith responded that they are delinquent in
45 days and the rest of it is current, but at the end of that month the
amount would be added. All together the total is 75 days.
Alderman Petersen said that if we can raise the deposit $50 it
will still fall back to the owner of the property.
The council approved a motion by Alderman Fortner that the City Council
table this discussion of Municipal Services (water/sewer) until a joint
meeting of the Public Works and Finance Committees, seconded by
Alderman Petersen.
City Administrator contract renewed
The council approved a new contract for City Administrator Trent Smith.
The new contract runs from the 1st day of December 2006 for a period of
one year unless terminated.
Smith's annual salary for the initial term of the contract will be
$62,500 together with benefits. The salary may be increased annually
with the consent of the Council.
Administrator Comments
• The EPA has had regulations concerning Cross Connection protection on
water lines since 1984 to prevent contamination of water distribution
systems from accidental contamination of the system from businesses and
residences through a backflow of water into the system.
• To comply with EPA regulations and recent enforcement policies,
Public Works Superintendent Charlie McGuire and I met with the vice
president of Backflow Solutions, Inc. to discuss a prevention program
and the associated costs. We will be presenting this to the Finance
Committee when we meet to begin the next budget process.
• Our 2006 Ordinance to levy taxes will be presented at the
next meeting for approval. It must be approved and filed with the
County no later that the last Tuesday in December in order to levy
taxes in 2007.
• Christmas Parade of Lights is on Saturday December 2, 2006 and there is going to be approximately 20 new floats.