CLAYPOOL – Town Council passed a water rate increase and heard a quote for repaving the worst streets in town Monday. The 2 percent water increase was passed without public comment during a hearing at the outset of the meeting. Council President Niki Miller noted before the vote that the town has increased rates “a little bit at a time” in recent years, and cited regular costs as well as upcoming projects such as repainting the water tower as among needs for the raise. The increase also formalizes a late payment penalty, which has long been practice but was never put into law. Water payments after the 15th of the month will be assessed a 25 percent fee and sewer payments a 10 percent fee. Council later noted there are no immediate plans to lower utility rates after completion of bond payments for the last major utility project. The last bond was paid off at the end of 2012, but they estimated a new, state-mandated E. coli treatment facility at a cost of $92,000 as the next big expense. “Obviously, we don’t want to deplete the sewage treatment fund if there are still things pending,” council member Don Miller remarked. “With (the Indiana Department of Environmental Management), anything can happen.” He added many system improvements are only a band-aid, since the system is undersized and may need to be enlarged down the road. If the town reaches a point where they do not foresee any major expenditures then they may consider a rate decrease, he noted, but it probably couldn’t be done without a rate study first. Council also heard a quote for street repaving from Phend and Brown from Town Superintendent Gene Warner. The quote, which focused only on the biggest trouble spots of Main and Clay streets as well as the east side downtown sidewalk, still exceeded bonds that will mature this year and other funds that can be used. Niki Miller asked Warner to gather one or two other quotes for repaving, saying she wasn’t comfortable making a decision on just one quote. And council voted to determine how many trees planted during 2010 town improvements have died and to find prices for replacing them, as well as the cost of mulch to keep them healthy. They made the decision after receiving a quote of $2,850 for maintaining 50 trees from Harlow Enterprises Inc., which originally installed the trees. There aren’t that many trees from the initial planting still living, council members remarked.
