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HORNERSVILLE, Mo. -- After the City of Hornersville voted in February to use city services to issue water bills as opposed to a Jonesboro, Ark., company, a concerned citizen, Vera Glueck, approached the board with a petition of 25 signatures, asking the board to clarify its position and reconsider it decision.
Mayor Richard Mara said he informed Glueck of what had taken place at the last board meeting.
According to Mara, other concerned citizens had contacted the Board of Aldermen about the bills being printed out of town. Mara said he informed the board that he had contacted the U.S. Post Office Area Supervisor Steve Erbland, who ensured him that an $86 loss per month in postage would not cost the city any services.
Mara said the board made the motion to continue using the city's service to print the bills due to the concern from the citizens that had contacted the aldermen.
The Mayor said Glueck said she did not know it was a problem, she just knew that the recent bills looked better.
"She said she didn't know she needed to contact somebody and say, 'Hey, we like these bills better and if it is cheaper, this is what we need to do'," Mara said.
Mara said Glueck asked if she got more names, would the board re-address and reconsider its decision, to which the board agreed.
Also during the meeting, the board scheduled a town hall meeting for 6 p.m., Monday, March 29, to address the city's proposed bond issue for its waste water project.
Mara said it is extremely important that all citizens bring any questions to the meeting, as it is the cheapest and best way for the city to meet the state mandated guidelines.
"We have to do this [project] one way or another," Mara said. "The cheapest and best thing for the city is for the citizens to vote to pass this bond issue. Otherwise, it will end up costing them more money because we will end up having to go through private funding, which, over the length of the project, the payback would cost us another million dollars, going by today's interest rate."
The board then discussed an issue regarding the Hornersville Housing Authority (HHA).
Mara said the HHA had a concern about the city leaving ruts on its property when it accessed the lift station. Mara said the board agreed to work with the HHA to change the access point to the alley instead of the street and to move the surrounding fence to the front.
In other matters, the board:
* Approved a mowing bid of $70 from Burgess Lawn Care;
* Approved placing ads on the local cable channel advertising for summer help. Interested individuals must be over the age of 16, must have a valid driver's license, and must apply by 4 p.m., Monday, March 29, and;
* Hired Haffner Financial Services to train Elisa Johnson, the new city clerk, on QuickBooks software. Johnson replaces Penny McLarty, who resigned from the position on Feb. 16.
Comments
yeah and so our water bills go up from the use to be 24.00 or so a month to almost 50.00 a month and then it fluctuates 20.00... things are so bad in our crumby little town that our city clerk even left. Our mayor is never in town if you need something, he works a job in Cardwell and our city clerk has to stick around til 6 pm or later just b/c our mayor has another job and getting paid to run our town but is never around! Hornersville is not what it used to be at all.
I cannot believe what I am reading. You expect a Mayor in a town our size to live on 200 dollars a month? Could you live on that amount of money? Our town cannot pay enough for a Mayor to be full time, get serious or at least think about what you are saying. I think that if you look back at the time during the ice storm, our Mayor worked more hours for our city than any other. I mean, look at Arbyrd, their Mayor took a vacation during the ice storm. He does all the water connections, sewer connections, and volunteers his time on many fund raising activities. Yes our water bills are going up, but that is no fault of the Mayor or the City Council. Check your facts before you speak. Have you even been to one of the town meetings yet about the issues that are causing our bills to go up, my guess is no. I don't like our bills going up, no one does, but the fact is that times change and we have to meet the changes. Please, don't cast a bad impression on our town without knowig what you are talking about. Educate yourself before you speak.