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City will enforce recycling fees

Vandalia residents who continually choose not to include with their water bill payments the surcharges for recycling will face the same fate as all others who don’t pay the full amount – disconnection of their water service.
That’s the direction given to City Clerk Peggy Bowen by the city council on Monday night.
Bowen initiated a lengthy discussion on the recycling surcharges two weeks after the council voted to add $1.25 to the monthly bill of city water users, saying that she has had “four or five” customers tell city staff that they don’t intend to pay the surcharges.
“We’ve had some of our residents come in who were concerned about the recycling,” Bowen said.
They told her, “I don’t mind to pay for the water and the sewer and the garbage, but I’m not going to pay that dollar for recycling,” Bowen told aldermen.
“I want to know what you guys want me to tell them when they do come in to pay their water bill and they do not want to pay that,” Bowen said.
Alderman Ken Hubler, chairman of the cemetery and landfill committee, which brought the recycling surcharge ordinances to the council for approval, said that the matter would go to the city attorney. “It’s a city ordinance.”
Alderman Mike Hobler added, “I didn’t think it was optional.”
Alderman Dorothy Crawford, one of three aldermen voting against passage of the surcharges, said she is opposed to disconnection and lawsuits.
“I don’t think we want to get in the practice of shutting people off over a $1.25 balance,” Crawford said.
When Alderman B. John Clark said, “It goes to the city attorney – they need to pay their complete bills,” Crawford responded, sarcastically, with, “That’s super-effective.”
Alderman Andy Lester said, “We talked about it, we voted on it, it’s part of the water bill.” If they don’t pay the surcharges, he said, the city attorney needs to get involved.
“Give it to the attorney and pay him $150 an hour?” Bowen asked.
“I’ll tell you what – I don’t use my garbage collection at my house; I pay for it at my shop, so I’m not going to pay my garbage collection (at home). So, that’s the way it goes," Lester said.
“If I don’t pay (for) my garbage collection, what happens to me?” he said.
Later in the meeting, Ryan Connor of the city’s legal counsel, clarified that not paying the surcharge one month would not necessarily mean cutting off water service.
“I’m not saying, shut them off over $1.25, but (at) wherever you ordinarily draw that threshold (for non-payment). I’m not necessarily talking about a dollar amount, but a time by which things go delinquent,” Connor said.
“I think that would probably be the most reasonable approach,” he said.
Connor told aldermen, “Sometimes, you have to enforce an ordinance occasionally at a loss until it becomes clear that it will be enforced.
“If we end up going to court, even over small amounts, court costs alone will go up over $200, in terms of just a filing fee.
“So, people are looking at a several hundred-dollar fee, plus time in court, even if the amount they consider nominal,” Connor said.
“So, that alone should be a deterrent,” he said. “Just the cost of going to court will be substantial, and they won’t really have much of a defense. ‘I don’t like the law’ won’t protect them as a defense.
“I hate to use court costs as a sword, but I think it’s pretty clear that this council intends to enforce what it passed,” Connor said.
“We now have a contractual obligation to fulfill to FAYCO, so our $1.25 gets paid (to them), regardless, so I think the city has an obligation to go forward with those suits, regardless of how silly people might think it is,” he said.
“Just to be clear – there’s nothing wrong with filing a low-dollar lawsuit to make your point,” Connor said. “There’s nothing ineffective about that.
“It’s a utility service bill, just like any other utility service bill,” he said.
To that, Crawford said, “I think suing residents over $1.25 is complete nonsense.”
Clark disagreed. “I think they just need to be informed of the consequences if they don’t pay it, let them know upfront, ‘If you don’t pay, this could happen.’”
But, Crawford stuck to her guns. “We let it go, we’re shutting them off over $15; we let it go two years, we’re shutting them off over $30 – it’s insane.”
The discussion wound down with Clark saying, “The bottom line is, it’s an ordinance and they’re going to have to live up to it – it’s as simple as that.
“You can sit here and argue all you want, but that’s the way it’s got to be.”
Alderman Russ Stunkel said he had heard from a resident who voiced the same objection as those doing so with the city staff.
Stunkel said that he explained the issue, and, “in the end, he agreed that it was a good decision. I gave him all of the information, and he said it makes sense.”
Later in the meeting, during committee reports, Hubler brought up the issue again, saying that he wants to see further study on the funding for recycling.
“In the fall, I’m going to find ways to lower it or abolish it,” he said, explaining that he voted for the surcharges as a way of keeping them available while an alternative funding source can be found.
“I don’t want to pay it, either,” Hubler said. “We’ve got to keep it (for now), so we can find other ways to fund it.”
Also at Monday’s meeting, the council approved Tax Increment Financing agreements for three local projects requested by David King, Mike Wehrle/Wehrle Properties and Robert Johnson. King, owner of Cages in the 200 block of South Third Street, asked for a TIF grant of up to $28,000, half of the estimated cost of an expansion project that includes the demolition of the house south of his business and the expansion of his beer garden area and parking.
Wehrle Properties was given a grant of up to $50,000, half of the estimated cost for the demolition and cleanup, which includes environmental cleanup, of Northtown Apartments in the 1500 block of North Second Street.
Mike Wehrle said he wants to demolish the apartments and clean up the area in order to build a commercial, multi-use building at location, which includes the area that formerly housed Jay’s Restaurant.
Mike Johnson was given a grant of up to $3,116.32, half of the estimated cost to make roof repairs to the building at 119 N. Fifth St. that formerly housed Johnson Specialities.
In other action on Monday:
• Gottman announced that a group will be formed to work on the celebration of the city’s 200th birthday in 2019.
Once a date for the celebration is set, he said, “we will start pulling people in” to head up different facets of the celebration, such as what was done for the 175th birthday celebration in 1994.
• The council approved the transfers of Vandalia Lake lot No. 137 from Carol Stirnaman of Troy to James Goetter of Collinsville, lake lot No. 312 from the city to Tracy Ulmer of Vandalia and lake lot No. 45 from Carl and Shawn Runkel of Vandalia to Brent and Abby Bayles of Vandalia.
• The council received a request from local State Farm agent Clint Simpson for the closure of Fourth Street between Gallatin and Main streets from 5-10 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 12.
Simpson hosts Saturday evening movies on the Vandalia Statehouse lawn, and he said that on Aug. 12, when the movie “Grease” will be shown, they want to hold a classic hot rod/car show.
 

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