By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette
During the June 4 regular meeting of the Yale City Council, discussion was held about citizens with delinquent water billing accounts. City Clerk Jonetta Long explained how the city had been dealing with these situations.
“The way we have been doing this is that I would now send them a letter. They’ve already received a disconnect notice. But we don’t have to do that (letter),” Long said.
“We have to quit going two or three periods, because our finance people say no,” Mayor Bev Louk said. “So, the first period when their water bill isn’t paid, we have to act. We have to have those funds…We aren’t making any deals with anyone. We can’t afford to do that.”
Councilmember Amber Lopez asked if this would apply to all customers with delinquent water accounts, and Mayor Louk said it would.
As described by Long, water billing is done quarterly. When an account hasn’t paid by the due date, the city then sends a disconnection notice, giving 30 days for the customer to pay and noting the scheduled disconnection date. Long also said that customers can pay at City Hall or Farmers State Bank.
A public hearing was held regarding the proposed amendment to the city’s 2023-2024 budget. No citizens voiced concerns or questions, so the hearing was promptly closed. The council voted to approve the amendment to the budget as proposed.
Assistant Fire Chief Craig Little provided a report on the past few months of activity for the Fire Department, including fire calls. He also addressed concerns about the city’s tornado siren system and how it can be activated.
“The Sheriff’s Department can activate it,” Little said, but he explained it was activated by hand recently because the Sheriff’s Department was helping with Greenfield’s tornado emergency response.
Regarding the city’s Fourth of July festivities, the council approved the use of the ball diamond for the event. Mayor Louk said the city was asked to consider paying $7,500 for a backstop at the ball diamond, but Louk and the council agreed this was not something the city can afford to do at this time.
The next regular meeting of the Yale city council will be Tuesday, July 2 at 7 p.m. The public is welcome.