MENTONE – Residents of Mentone won’t have to worry about their water rates going up.
Clerk-Treasurer Barb Ross told the town council Monday night that H.J. Umbaugh & Associates gave the results of the water rate study they did for the town.
“They feel within another year, we will have good revenue and we will not have to increase our water rates,” Ross reported.
Council members Tim Croy, Jill Gross and Shelly Krueger were ecstatic about the report.
In June, the council discussed the need to raise water rates because it was half way through the year and the town’s water department was half way through its money. The last time Mentone raised its water rates was 2004.
In July, the council agreed to pay Umbaugh & Associates $6,000 to conduct the water rate study. A study has to be done before a municipality can raise rates.
In another matter, Gross told Utilities Superintendent Josh Shepherd to tell his guys they did a nice job trimming the trees in town. She said they looked “amazing.”
“I had a couple of complaints because they were so uneven,” Krueger reported.
“Nothing wrong with the homeowner doing a little trimming themselves,” Shepherd responded. “I probably had 20 good compliments and two people mad at me.”
There’s always someone who wants to complain, Gross mentioned. “You can’t make everyone happy.”
Krueger said it was too bad they couldn’t take down some of the dead trees in town while trimming.
Shepherd then announced cemetery cleanup is Oct. 1. People should take off any flowers or decorations they want to keep before then, or they will be discarded.
He is also getting prices for fencing for the west side of the cemetery. Apparently, he said, a few people think they have to drive through there and a fence will hopefully prevent that.
West Jackson Street resident Kathy Jensen requested reimbursement from the town for a tree that had to be removed from her property because it was killed during the town’s stormwater sewer project.
After consideration, the council agreed to pay 50 percent – or $250 – of the cost of the removal of the tree.
Before the regular meeting, the council held the public hearing on the 2013 town budget. There were no remonstrators. A meeting to approve the budget will be at 6 p.m. Oct. 1.
The next regular meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 1.
