PSWD #1 Refuses to Pay to Connect or Disconnect from Grant City

The current contract between the Worth County Rural Water District and the City of Grant City is up for renewal in 2014 and the Rural Water District says that they will not pay to connect or disconnect under a new contract. Board member Steven Combs said at the regular RWD meeting last Wednesday that the City of Grant City had mailed a contract to the Rural Water District including a fee for connecting or disconnecting from the system and hooking up with SIRWA. They are still operating under the old contract with Grant City, which was signed in April, 1977 and which is in effect until 2014. Currently, the city is seeking loan approval for the recently-passed bond issue; Combs said that their loan approval depends on the RWD's signature for a contract. But Combs said that "We're not going to do some 30 year deal like that with the city. We can sign something saying we intend to purchase water from Grant City."

Combs said that when the city and the Rural Water District signed their contract, there was no other water service available yet. But Combs said that the RWD disconnected from Grant City only for their benefit; for instance, he said that they did so to prevent water from getting so low that a boil order would be triggered. He said that the RWD had bent over backwards to help the city get through any water troubles that they had and that it was still RWD's intent to buy from Grant City because it cost a lot more to get it from SIRWA.

The RWD was dealing with meters which had a lot of water meters under them because of the recent weather issues. They are in the process of working on washouts to meet a FEMA deadline to get money from them.

The board hired Bobbi Jo Gladstone as the new secretary to replace Shannon Burns. She will assume her duties May 1st and her starting salary will be $13 an hour. It will go up to $15 an hour.

Board member Ted Findley reported that his water system had been going bad for a day or two and then it would be fine. Other board members told him to talk to Ed Ackley to discuss the problem.