The Steelville Board of Aldermen discussed potential changes to city policy regarding after-hours utility shutoffs at their Oct. 5 meeting.

Under current municipal utilities policy, if a customer’s utilities are turned off due to a delinquent or unpaid utility bill, the city is required to turn on the customer’s utilities after normal business hours if the customer can pay their bill in full. The policy also requires that the customer pay a $75 fee for having their utilities restored after-hours.

Steelville Public Works Director Jason Evans raised questions about the safety and practicality of the current policy for both customers and city employees.

According to Evans, under the current policy, if a customer requests their utilities be turned back on after normal business hours or on weekends, a city employee who handles utility billing is required to meet the customer at City Hall to collect payment. A utility technician is also required to go to the residents’ home in order to restore their utilities.

Evans said that he is concerned about city employees meeting frustrated utility customers after hours as it gets dark earlier in the day as winter approaches.

“Especially this time of year when it gets dark at 5:30 or 6 o’clock, we’ve got the girls coming (to City Hall) in the dark, meeting angry people that are already waiting in the parking lot because their utilities got shut off,” Evans said. “You’ve got our guys coming in the dark to turn their utilities back on at houses of angry people that got their utilities shut off. I’m wondering if there’s a better way to go about that.”

The current penalty to reconnect delinquent utilities is $75. When customers request their utilities be turned on after hours, the city loses more than that in personnel costs alone, according to Steelville Mayor Jason Ward.

“It’s one of those things with a lot of our policies that we are spending more money than we are actually generating by doing these things,” Ward said.

According to Steelville City Clerk Jamey Griffith’s utility shutoffs report, presented at the Oct. 5 Board of Aldermen meeting, there were 55 utility shutoffs in the month of September.

Griffith said that City Hall receives requests for after-hours service restoration “quite often.”

City officials discussed potential revisions to city ordinances that establish procedures for how shutoffs are conducted.

Currently, utility bills are due on the 10th day of each month. If bills are not paid by 4:30 p.m. on the 20th of the month, a 10 percent late fee is assessed. Then, unpaid utilities are shut off on the 5th working day after the 20th of each month.

Griffith said that the current shut-off procedure is confusing for customers and suggested that simplifying it may result in less requests for shut-off utilities to be restored after hours.

“I feel like that’s super confusing anyway,” Griffith said of the policy that requires unpaid utilities be shut off on the 5th working day after the 20th of each month. “So every month it’s a different day. It’s just never consistent.”

Griffith added that customers with unpaid utilities are mailed shut-off notices on the 20th day of the month, but sometimes customers do not receive the letters until after their utilities have been shut off.

Griffith suggested shut-offs could be done on a set date every month and said that such a system would be easier for both customers and staff.

Ward suggested that shutoff deadlines could remain the same but that the city could delay shutting off unpaid utilities until the following Monday.

Evans agreed that doing so would allow customers time to pay delinquent bills before their utilities are actually shut off, while reducing the time staff spend restoring service after hours.

“That will alleviate. And it’s not like the meters are going to be shut off and not register what’s being used over the weekend. It will still compound and be there for them to pay the next month,” Evans said.

Although officials did not take any concrete steps to change the city’s policy for after-hours utility shutoffs, they agreed to consult Brooks Kenagy, the city’s legal counsel, on potential changes to city policy.

The next Board of Aldermen meeting is scheduled for Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. at Steelville City Hall.