City Moves Date For Electric Department Bill
One lone citizen was on hand for the City Board meeting Tuesday, Oct. 5.
By Jack Gurner
Reporter
WATER VALLEY – Electric power customers in the City can expect to receive higher than normal bills in December.
But, the rates aren’t going up. The increase will be for about six or seven additional days of power consumption, according to Mayor Larry Hart.
“TVA has requested that we move our billing date to the first of the month,” Hart told Aldermen at their regular meeting Tuesday, Oct. 5.
He explained that TVA is going to first of the month billing system-wide and they are requesting that all of their distributors do the same.
November bills will be as usual, Hart said, but the December bills will include the additional days from around Nov. 23 through the end of the month. The bills will arrive in the mail around the second week of December.
Customers will have until Jan. 3 to pay the bill without a late charge and will not be subject to disconnect until after Jan. 13.
The Mayor said that the Electric Department would publicize the billing change in the newspaper and information would be included in the bill sent out in November.
Among other actions at the Oct. 5 meeting, the Board of Aldermen:
• Approved purchase of a truck chassis for the Street Department at state bid price.
• Set the date for the annual Christmas parade for Saturday, Dec. 4 beginning at 1 p.m. at the request of the Tri-Lake Fairgrounds Association, sponsors of the event.
The parade starting and ending points will remain the same as in past years, according to a letter from J. C. Womble. The rain date will be Dec. 11.
• Paid Attorney John Crow $4569 for legal work done on cases appealed from Municipal Court to Circuit Court.
Hart told the Board that $4570 in fines has been collected and $10,945 remains to be collected.
Over the course of a year, Crow said he has handled 25 cases “and now we are down to two.”
• Authorized Mayor Hart to sign the municipal compliance questionnaire for the 2009 budget.
• Heard from Mayor Hart that the installation of the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) equipment for the water system is about to begin and will take about two weeks.
• Were informed that City Clerk Vivian Snider had attended mandatory Court Clerk training in September.
• Received an update on the activities of the Water Valley Main Street Association from Director Mickey Howley.
Howley touted two upcoming events, the last Movie on Main for the season on Oct. 15 and the community sing-a-long on Oct. 16 in City Park.
He also invited the Mayor and Aldermen to attend the WVMSA annual general meeting on Thursday, Oct. 21. “As you know, the City of Water Valley is a big sponsor of Main Street and all public officials are encouraged to attend,” Howley added.
• Heard from Alderman Fred White who expressed concern that the City wasn’t doing business with minorities.
White said that he had been going through the claims docket and counted nine or ten businesses with whom the City had done business. “I didn’t find not one minority business.”
“The City just doesn’t recognize minority businesses,” he added. “I think all the businesses should be recognized.
Hart agreed and said that he thought the City was doing better since the two had talked about the matter before. The Mayor said that he would follow up on the issue.
• Adjourned after just under 13 minutes. The next scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, Nov. 2 in the boardroom at city hall.
