Osceola City Council approved 4-0 the third reading of waste water rates at their July 18 meeting; councilman Doug Gay was absent.
The proposed rate increase came up for council consideration at the May 16 city council meeting, at which time Libby Patton with Veenstra and Kimm informed council of the results of a study conducted on current Osceola waste water rates. Patton found that the current rates were not sustainable enough to generate revenue that would cover future expenses at the new wastewater treatment plant. Due to the larger size of the new plant, more expenses will be incurred in areas such as maintenance and increased staffing.
“Your current rate structure cannot fund your future needs,” Patton told council at the time.
Patton said that two increases would be needed - one this year and one again in five years; the one this year would be the larger of the two.
The new rates, which will be found as an amendment to Chapter 99, section 3 of the Code of Ordinances for the City of Osceola, will show the new rates as follows: residential users will pay $6/1,000 gallons, commercial users $8.15/1,000 gallons, industrial class A users $7/1,000 gallons, industrial class B users $7/1,000 gallons and a high volume rate of $7/1,000 gallons.
The minimum monthly surcharge will increase from a flat rate of $28 to minimum monthly fee of $43 residential, $50 commercial, $100 industrial class A and $100 industrial class B.
The new ordinance will take effect for usage billed starting on Oct. 1. The first and second readings were passed on June 6 and June 20 respectively. No further comments had been received from the public ahead of the third reading.
Other council news
Council formally approved a bid from Andrew Construction for the West Clay Street sidewalk 4-0.
The sidewalk, which will be on the south side of West Clay Street, is part of the Safe Osceola Sidewalk project. The base bid from Andrew Construction came in at $40,570 with an optional addition of $4,980 that will connect the sidewalk up West Clay to Revelton Distillery. An alternate bid from Country Concrete had a base bid of $57,000, with an additional cost of $7,860 to continue the sidewalk on to Revelton. The approved bid included the additional $4,980. The sidewalk work is currently underway.
A public hearing regarding a proposed floodplain management ordinance was scheduled for the Aug. 1 city council meeting. The hearing will consider the adoption of a proposed floodplain management ordinance as requested by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
The next city council is Aug. 1. Meeting minutes from the July 18 meeting can be found in the legal section of this newspaper and on the city’s website: www.osceolaia.net.