The Jefferson Street/Sewer/Sanitation/Water committees met Tuesday in regular session.

The meeting started with four residents concerned about their water and sewer bills. One was on a sewer bill for a foreclosed house that was owned by United Bank of Iowa in Carroll. Per policy, the committee wasn’t going to forgive the past water bill portion, but would forgive the amount over $500 on the sewer bill, due to a broken pipe that flooded the basement of the home.

Another issue was for a homeowner that had a backup issue from their main sewer line replaced in 2014. The homeowner claimed she was charged for extra water from an earlier clean out. The committee recommended to have the sanitation department run green dye to see if the issue was from the city’s main line or from her service line to the main.

The next issue was from a landlord who claimed he had a $4,000 water bill on three of his properties. The liens on the properties totaled over $1,000 and the landlord claimed that City Administrator Mike Palmer was unwilling to work with him and deliberately ran up his water bills for 6 to 12 months. He also claimed that he was not notified, nor was the water ever shut-off for having overdue water bills from his tenants. The committee told the landlord that there are letters sent to him notifying him of the overdue water bills and water would be shut-off if overdue bills were not paid. The conversation ended with the landlord being escorted out of the room by Police Chief Mark Clouse.

The final concern came from another landlord who had one rental property. He was concerned with having to pay $700 for additional hopper loads from the city’s spring clean up week when his tenant left without notifying him. All charges fall back to the landlord if the tenant can’t pay. The committee recommended that the landlord stipulate in his lease agreement that there will be no dumpster charges allowed on the property.

Sanitation Superintendent Danny Moranville presented several cost estimates to install a permanent generator with an automatic switch for the Grimmell Road lift station. He said he is waiting on Alliant Energy to give him a bid on the price of natural gas to power the generator before a decision can be made.

Palmer then updated the committee on the East Lincoln Way entryway project. He said they have applied for a Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) grant to install a walking/biking path from the Raccoon River Valley Trailhead to the City cemetery. Finally, there was a report on several street projects made by Street Superintendent Dave Teeples and Public Works Director Dave Morlan.