BPW reconsiders deposits and landlord policies

The Board of Public Works reviewed their policy regarding utility deposits at the latest BPW meeting and considered several items related to the Kimball Landfill.

“This was an issue brought to us by a citizen last month that was tabled,” board president Jim Cederburg said.

The request is threefold: to cease requiring deposits from those who show an exemplary payment history, to cease requiring deposits from those whose utility bills are taken directly out of their account, or to give the city administrator the authority to waive deposits in certain cases.

“The customer history doesn’t really tell us if someone is late, if they were part of a payment agreement,” city administrator Daniel Ortiz said. “It is hard to decipher, based on someone’s credit or past history, how good of a customer they have been.”

Recently the same board adopted a late fee policy that can be tracked and will add some of the necessary information to all customer’s history.

“I guess I will state my opinion, basically it is quite similar to last month. Consistency, to me, is important,” Cederburg said “Personally I don’t consider the situation to be broken and I don’t think we need to be meddling with it.”

Cederburg continued that the deposit has been $100 for a very long time and that, since rates have risen, he believes that perhaps the deposit should be raised as well.

Although board member Greg Robinson was for the idea of waiving deposits for reliable customers, following many conversations in the past month, he said that he could not find a specific set of criteria that would allow the waiver to be fair for all citizens.

“After numerous discussions and thought, I tried different ways to find a manageable program that was fair and every time I came up with something I ran into something that wasn’t going to work,” Robinson said. “Thirty days later I am now of the same opinion as Jim. I don’t think we need to do anything, it is just not a workable thing.”

Robinson added too that perhaps the deposit is not sufficient to cover the utilities used in a month.

The board chose to leave the deposit policy as is and to further discuss the amount of the deposit as well as the deposit refund policy during the March meeting.

A Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality requirement for groundwater sampling at the landfill was addressed by the board.

“Every year, semi-annual and sometime quarterly are required, testing to be conducted,” Ortiz said. “In the past Golder has been the primary contract coordinator in this. They would coordinate with a qualified person to collect the sample, they get overnighted to a lab in Kansas and the results are sent to Golder for preparations for submittal to NDEQ (Nebraska Department of Quality).”

This particular requirement generates three separate invoices, one for Golder Associates, one for the lab and one for the person or company that collects the sample, according to Ortiz.

“I received Golder’s estimates and in the past we try to go for two year increments, and unfortunately the last time we did that... we didn’t have sufficient time to explore additional options from qualified companies,” Ortiz said.

Following further discussion, the board excepted a proposal for groundwater sampling at the local landfill for the next two years. The entire cost for this requirement for both 2016 and 2017 totals just more than $22,000.

The board moved on to consider a change order for costs incurred to close the landfill cell, which exceeded the estimated cost by more than $65,000.

“Z&S has completed the construction project closing the existing, now closed, landfill cell. Some of the amount or quantity of work involved was a little higher based on Z&S’s estimates,” Ortiz said.

Golder Associates, the engineering consultant for the project who provided the estimates for the bid, recommended that they have a conversation with the company as well as the city administrator to clarify the amount of time and work moving dirt as well as the difference in the layout of the cell.

“I will meet with Dave Haack (owner of Z&S) and Golder to set up a time where we can discuss the details of that and iron out the specifics for you,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz added that the change order is still being evaluated and finals costs have not been determined. The board tabled this item per Ortiz’s request to allow time to meet with those entities and gather more information for the board.

The board received the second update on the baler at the local landfill, which was reported dismantled for repairs at the Jan. 26 BPW meeting.

At that time the baler at the landfill had been non-operational for a week to allow repair by Prestige Manufacturing of Kimball and a cost estimate was unavailable.

During this second update, Ortiz stated that the project is coming to an end quickly but final expenses on the work is unavailable.

“The conveyor belt is in need of attention, it is aging just like the baler was,” Ortiz said. “I included to make sure we address that.”

Cost estimates to replace the conveyor belt were gathered, and the cost of the parts reaches nearly $22,000, however that will not be considered until it is necessary or with the coming fiscal year.

Just prior to closing the meeting, Ortiz reported that Keep Kimball Beautiful has already defaulted on the recently signed contract and eviction may be revisited soon.

“At the last council meeting there was an agenda item to consider evicting Keep Kimball Beautiful from the recycle center pursuant to the council’s last modified agreement being approved at the beginning of February,” Ortiz said. “However, at the last council meeting the agreement was signed. Requests to move forward with executing and fulfilling the agreements have gone unfulfilled. They essentially are not following through with the agreement they signed so if this continues there is a strong likelihood the council will consider the notion of terminating the agreement and evicting them again at the next council meeting.”

Other considerations by the board include:

Approved the minutes, treasurer’s report and financial report as written.

Received an update on the Kimball Power Plant.

Revisited the landlord policy as well as a potential online bill pay system.

The next BPW meeting will be March 22 at City Hallestimates,” Ortiz said.

Golder Associates, the engineering consultant for the project who provided the estimates for the bid, recommended that they have a conversation with the company as well as the city administrator to clarify the amount of time and work moving dirt as well as the difference in the layout of the cell.

“I will meet with Dave Haack (owner of Z&S) and Golder to set up a time where we can discuss the details of that and iron out the specifics for you,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz added that the change order is still being evaluated and finals costs have not been determined. The board tabled this item per Ortiz’s request to allow time to meet with those entities and gather more information for the board.

The board received the second update on the baler at the local landfill, which was reported dismantled for repairs at the Jan. 26 BPW meeting.

At that time the baler at the landfill had been non-operational for a week to allow repair by Prestige Manufacturing of Kimball and a cost estimate was unavailable.

During this second update, Ortiz stated that the project is coming to an end quickly but final expenses on the work is unavailable.

“The conveyor belt is in need of attention, it is aging just like the baler was,” Ortiz said. “I included to make sure we address that.”

Cost estimates to replace the conveyor belt were gathered, and the cost of the parts reaches nearly $22,000, however that will not be considered until it is necessary or with the coming fiscal year.

Just prior to closing the meeting, Ortiz reported that Keep Kimball Beautiful has already defaulted on the recently signed contract and eviction may be revisited soon.

“At the last council meeting there was an agenda item to consider evicting Keep Kimball Beautiful from the recycle center pursuant to the council’s last modified agreement being approved at the beginning of February,” Ortiz said. “However, at the last council meeting the agreement was signed. Requests to move forward with executing and fulfilling the agreements have gone unfulfilled. They essentially are not following through with the agreement they signed so if this continues there is a strong likelihood the council will consider the notion of terminating the agreement and evicting them again at the next council meeting.”

Other considerations by the board include:

Approved the minutes, treasurer’s report and financial report as written.

Received an update on the Kimball Power Plant.

Revisited the landlord policy as well as a potential online bill pay system.

The next BPW meeting will be March 22 at City Hall.