By NATE JONES
The Wellington News
Controversy rose like August temperatures at Tuesday night’s Wellington City Council meeting.
Some of the cities utility customers were disconnected from electrical power in the 100-plus-degree weather earlier this month. Ninety-three customers were cut off because they failed to contact the city and make arrangements for payments.
"These are difficult times for people," Council Member John Brand said during the meeting. "But again I think the bottom line is, all you had to do was call."
Currently there is no "hot weather rule" established in Kansas, however there is one for cold temperatures. There is a current city code that states special situations, like weather, that will keep the power on if customers make arrangements.
"If they contact us, we try to give them every benefit of the doubt to give them as much time as they need to come in and make the payment," Wellington City Manager Gus Collins said.
The city of Wellington has around 4,400 utility customers. They bill customers in two cycles, leading up to the day in question- Thursday, Aug. 5 there were 2,200 notices mailed out. The day before the cut off day, 225 customers had not made arrangements or a payment. On that Thursday, only 93 had failed to contact the city so their power got disconnected.
"I resent the fact that we're being told that we're not compassionate people," Brand said. "We weren't given the opportunity to be compassionate."
The idea of a heat moratorium will be looked into for the City of Wellington as they seek a fair solution to the issue. Council Member John Tracy said the heat rule topic has been brought up in the past.
"I think we could very easily mirror it after the cold weather rule," Tracy said during the meeting. "The cold weather rule is established state wide and they have certain criteria on how many days you allow them, how many days that you look at in advance." He said they could look into developing criteria on how to do that locally.
"I think we could determine what temperature we should start with," Council Member Cindy Antonich said Tuesday. "At 105 degrees, well, that's pretty hot. We set at 90, I don't believe anybody in town would have to pay their electric bill for at least three months."
In spite of city codes already in place, Council Member Jim Valentine says the city needs to do more to protect the people that have fallen on hard times and those on life support devices.
"If we have habitual offenders, I want to know, we need to know who they are, and that can be done," Valentine said during a speech to start the meeting. "If you can take the time to pull meters, if you can take the time to reinstall them, if you can take the time to pay overtime to electricians who go out and do this then you can take time to find out who your habitual offenders are."
Valentine proposed a 96 hour window before power gets disconnected.
There are agencies out there who can help those having trouble paying bills, like the Ministerial Alliance.
"We do have funds that are available right now to assist in the electric and utility bills and we would welcome you to give us a call," Rev. Don Cross of Nazarene Church told the Council. "We'd be more than happy to help with what we can." The city manager says customers are informed of such agencies.
"We share that information with everyone, all the churches in the Ministerial Alliance, when they come in need of assistance," Collins said after the Reverend spoke to the Council. Collins also reiterated that power will not be shut off to houses with life support devices.
"If circumstances warrant," Collins said. "We're certainly going to allow them extension."
As Council Member Larry Shimer pointed out, if the city pays for anyone's bills, it would have to pay for everybody's bills.
"We've got to do it fair, we've got to do it right," Shimer said. "We've got to do it the way we're supposed to do it."
He also pointed out that the city is a business and like any business it's goal is to make money at the end of the day.
"My personal feeling, it's something we've got to work at," Mayor Roger Stallbaumer said.
The city has been advised to use discretion when it comes to utilities and overdue bills until a solution can be met. A number of options are being looked into such as the heat moratorium and a special fund for utilities. There was also mention of a work session in the coming weeks on the subject.
"We want to make things better," said Brand. "Just ask."
|
|
|
By NATE JONES
The Wellington News
Controversy rose like August temperatures at Tuesday night’s Wellington City Council meeting.
Some of the cities utility customers were disconnected from electrical power in the 100-plus-degree weather earlier this month. Ninety-three customers were cut off because they failed to contact the city and make arrangements for payments.
"These are difficult times for people," Council Member John Brand said during the meeting. "But again I think the bottom line is, all you had to do was call."
Currently there is no "hot weather rule" established in Kansas, however there is one for cold temperatures. There is a current city code that states special situations, like weather, that will keep the power on if customers make arrangements.
"If they contact us, we try to give them every benefit of the doubt to give them as much time as they need to come in and make the payment," Wellington City Manager Gus Collins said.
The city of Wellington has around 4,400 utility customers. They bill customers in two cycles, leading up to the day in question- Thursday, Aug. 5 there were 2,200 notices mailed out. The day before the cut off day, 225 customers had not made arrangements or a payment. On that Thursday, only 93 had failed to contact the city so their power got disconnected.
"I resent the fact that we're being told that we're not compassionate people," Brand said. "We weren't given the opportunity to be compassionate."
The idea of a heat moratorium will be looked into for the City of Wellington as they seek a fair solution to the issue. Council Member John Tracy said the heat rule topic has been brought up in the past.
"I think we could very easily mirror it after the cold weather rule," Tracy said during the meeting. "The cold weather rule is established state wide and they have certain criteria on how many days you allow them, how many days that you look at in advance." He said they could look into developing criteria on how to do that locally.
"I think we could determine what temperature we should start with," Council Member Cindy Antonich said Tuesday. "At 105 degrees, well, that's pretty hot. We set at 90, I don't believe anybody in town would have to pay their electric bill for at least three months."
In spite of city codes already in place, Council Member Jim Valentine says the city needs to do more to protect the people that have fallen on hard times and those on life support devices.
"If we have habitual offenders, I want to know, we need to know who they are, and that can be done," Valentine said during a speech to start the meeting. "If you can take the time to pull meters, if you can take the time to reinstall them, if you can take the time to pay overtime to electricians who go out and do this then you can take time to find out who your habitual offenders are."
Valentine proposed a 96 hour window before power gets disconnected.
There are agencies out there who can help those having trouble paying bills, like the Ministerial Alliance.
"We do have funds that are available right now to assist in the electric and utility bills and we would welcome you to give us a call," Rev. Don Cross of Nazarene Church told the Council. "We'd be more than happy to help with what we can." The city manager says customers are informed of such agencies.
"We share that information with everyone, all the churches in the Ministerial Alliance, when they come in need of assistance," Collins said after the Reverend spoke to the Council. Collins also reiterated that power will not be shut off to houses with life support devices.
"If circumstances warrant," Collins said. "We're certainly going to allow them extension."
As Council Member Larry Shimer pointed out, if the city pays for anyone's bills, it would have to pay for everybody's bills.
"We've got to do it fair, we've got to do it right," Shimer said. "We've got to do it the way we're supposed to do it."
He also pointed out that the city is a business and like any business it's goal is to make money at the end of the day.
"My personal feeling, it's something we've got to work at," Mayor Roger Stallbaumer said.
The city has been advised to use discretion when it comes to utilities and overdue bills until a solution can be met. A number of options are being looked into such as the heat moratorium and a special fund for utilities. There was also mention of a work session in the coming weeks on the subject.
"We want to make things better," said Brand. "Just ask."
