City hopes savings will offset cost of utility billing system

The new city utility bills will cost a little more to mail but that expense will be offset by savings in manpower and time, city staff told the McCook City Council Monday night.

Upon questioning by Councilman Lonnie Anderson, who pulled the item from the consent agenda for discussion, Utility Director Jesse Dutcher said the new bill will cost about four cents a piece higher than the old ones. The new, pressure-sealed bill for water, trash collection and sewer service will replace the postcard-style bill that the city currently uses and will be able to include shut-off notices. This will eliminate the labor costs of sending out an estimated 150 notices per month that have the added cost of paper, envelopes postage and labor.

The new bill is part of the software updates being made to the city's bookkeeping system. The postcard-style bill was printed on an aging dot matrix printer that is no longer compatible with current software and the new bills can be printed using the existing laser printer.

The council also suspended the three-reading rule and approved unanimoulsy an ordinance that clarifies that the McCook Housing Agency Board has five members. Two conflicting city codes had the commission at five and at six members and by approving this ordinance, the commission will stay at its current five members.

The McCook Housing Agency is involved with public housing issues and includes Judy Keenportz, chairperson, Collen Grant, Terry Peterson, Elaine Mizell and Shane Fagot.