Council extends due dates on water/sewer bills

Ken Johnston

Rainy River Town Council met Monday evening to do the town’s business.
Topping the agenda was the changing of the due date for water and sewer bills. At present the bill is due two weeks after it is mailed out.
Councillor Brent Anderson said the Finance Committee looked at alternative billing schemes to the current quarterly billing.
“Our accounting software would make it too costly to go with monthly bills at this time,” said Anderson. “This is a way to provide customers with a bit of relief.”
Anderson said the new due date would be the end of the month that the bills are issued, beginning with the August billing. He also noted that the new accounting software the town is purchasing may allow them to revisit options of more frequent billing without having it cost the ratepayers too much.
“We wanted to do something that would not increase rates even further next year,” said Anderson.
The motion to move the due date was carried.
Other Business
•Council approved the contract for B & B Cleaners for 2006-07 to clean town buildings. Council gave B&B a 10% raise going from $1,102.31 plus GST per month last year to $1,212.54 plus GST per month.
•Council approved the contract for 2006-07 for the caretaker, Dennis Katona, at the local landfill at a rate of $8/hr.
•Councillor Ed Tymkin reported that the town office had been broken into and that $150 in petty cash went missing. The matter is under investigation by the O.P.P.
•Council tabled a motion to write off $211.41 owed on an old water and sewer acct. when Councillor Tymkin questioned whether the town has the legal right to collect the money from the property owner rather than the delinquent renter.
Councillor Brent Anderson said that council’s bylaw is vague and that work by the committee will address that and hold the property owner liable.
Tymkin suggested the town get a legal opinion.
Anderson and Mayor Glen Armstrong felt that spending $500 on a legal opinion to recover $211.41 was not wise.
However, Tymkin said there could be others in the same boat. “It is the principle of the whole thing.”
•Council has not made any decision on whether to close the Little St. Rail Crossing. However, Mayor Armstrong noted that the town has gone back to CN asking them to sweeten the pot before council will decide.
•Council agreed to pay $150 to the Rainy River Vet Services.
•Councillor Brent Anderson said that the Rec. Board is still working on getting a new Rec. Director in place.
•Council referred a request by a proposed summer camp to have the town est. a bank acct. to the Rec. Board to handle.