Water superintendent's salary ordinance split

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

At their meeting last week, Fillmore Town Council members Wes Terhune, Alan Jones and Jeff Osborn voted to split the water superintendent salary ordinance in order to hire Jim Nelson to oversee the water and sewer departments in Fillmore. Jeremy Robinson was hired to do the local labor.

Nelson, who is the water and sewer superintendent in Bainbridge, will oversee the department in Fillmore. He will receive $6,000 a year.

Robinson, who lives locally, will handle the day-to-day work and will be paid $12,700 annually. The council determined this was the best solution in order to have someone locally available to deal with any daily water issues.

Council members also discussed an issue with Opportunity Housing, a company who is demanding credit for overpayments made for utilities.

Prior to the new board taking office in Jan. 1, water bills were split between landlords and residents on rental property. This practice is not legal and the board has discontinued it.

Opportunity Housing is asking for credit for those payments. The current town council has agreed to give credit for any payments after Jan. 1, but is not accepting liability for those prior to that date.

Budget issues were also discussed at the meeting. A September budget meeting was advertised without a specific day named and was rejected by the Department of Local Government Finance (IDLGF). The town cannot spend money if the budget is not approved.

"We're in the process of filing the proper amendments," Osborn said. "The town has to jump through some hoops but it should be resolved soon. The earliest it could have any effect is August or September. It should be OK by then."

The council also reported the town's April water sample was rejected by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) for having been in transit too long before being tested.

The May sample was approved and Osborn didn't foresee any further problems.

"We may have to advertise we were out of compliance for April but I want people to know it's just a formality. It's not a problem now," he said.

The town is now hand-delivering the monthly samples to a lab in Brownsburg rather than mailing it to the IDEM lab in Indianapolis.

There was good news in Fillmore as well. The council reported on the town's Pride Week.

"It went extremely well," said Osborn. "We fed over 100 people and hauled away 10 tons of trash. It was a great community effort, and just a great day."

Osborn said everything was donated for the barbeque and the town even made a little money.

"Double R Farms donated the hog. Wes Terune and Dixie BBQ donated the chickens and equipment to cook. Fillmore Fire Department also loaned their cooker for the community day," he said. "Joe Cash brought his backhoe enabling workers to compact three-four times more trash than in the past. We hauled away 10 tens of trash, that's more than we've ever had before. It was a very positive day."

The Fillmore Town Council meets at 7 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month. Information about the town can be found at www.fillmoreindiana.com

Comments
View 1 comment
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
  • So if Opportunity Housing is/was given credit after Jan.1st,but nothing prior to that,what about the rest of the Fillmore residents? The landlords are the ones who say they'll pay for it, but yet then want credited.All of the other residents,who own their property,were over charged as well.So take care of us also.

    -- Posted by what_it's_worth on Tue, Jun 10, 2008, at 3:12 AM
Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: