Steelville Board of Aldermen discussed on May 4 a recurring issue involving residents who move out of town with unpaid utility bills, and then later move back and attempt to restart service.

Under city ordinances, anyone who wants to restart their utility services with the city must first pay any outstanding balances from previous accounts. Accounts that remain unpaid for 90 days after being closed are sent to a collection agency and are charged a fee.

However, Utility Billing Clerk Sherri Cornick told the aldermen that there have been some situations “where it kind of slips through the cracks.”

In recent cases, individuals who owe past-due balances have their utility accounts listed under someone else’s name, such as a landlord, family member or friend. Often, the same person regularly calls to pay a bill for an account that is not in their name, signaling to the city that they are still residing at the property.

“There’s one thing about being down on your luck a little bit, having restricted incomes,” Mayor Duane DeRennaux said. “But these people have gotten to the point now they’re just being flat out deceitful. They’re putting it in someone else’s name while they’re still living in a house and claiming that there may be a sibling or a spouse, but they’re still there.”

Cornick plans to draft a policy that will guide the city in addressing these situations. 

“That way, we know as an office how to handle it, and we treat everyone the same,” she said. “The goal is to work with the customer so that they are able to make those payments.”

Cornick is receiving guidance from the city’s attorney and is looking at how other towns handle similar situations. Once the policy is drafted, she’ll bring it before the aldermen for consideration.

There was also a discussion regarding citizen concerns about speeding. Chief of Police Mike Sherman said city police are aware of the issue and have stepped up their patrolling in targeted areas at certain times.

Last year at this time, Sherman said his department had issued 162 warnings/summons. This year, that number is already at 255.

DeRennaux noted that speeding has been an issue in Steelville for years. He’s spoken with officials from nearby cities, including Cuba, St. James and Viburnum, and has heard they’re dealing with similar problems.

Sherman has noticed that the speeders are increasingly in the younger generation and said parents need to encourage responsible driving.

“I hear the complaints from the citizens on one end about the speeding. I also get the complaints on the other end about us writing tickets to locals,” he said. “With that being said, if the parents would talk to their kids about how to drive responsibly, their kids will not get tickets, especially when they’re being disrespectful or rude to the officer on scene.”

The aldermen voted to renew the city’s current employee health insurance plan, keeping the deductible the same for employees at a cost increase to the city. Employees will not see higher out-of-pocket expenses under the renewed plan.

Currently, the city pays $8,869 per month for employee coverage with a $250 deductible. Renewing that same plan will raise the monthly cost to the city to $9,954, which is an increase of about $1,000 per month.

The board also considered higher deductible options as a way to reduce their costs. Switching to a $500 deductible would have saved the city an estimated $5,245 annually.

However, during the discussion, there were concerns raised about city employees not being asked for their opinions on the potential deductible increase before the aldermen considered it.

“You are dipping into their pockets if you’re going to raise the deductible,” Sherman said, noting that he could’ve gathered his employees’ opinions prior to the meeting had he known it was going to be a discussion.

“Don’t you think you ought to talk to the people before you do anything?” Ward 2 Alderman Lula Patterson asked. “I mean, they have a right to know what’s happening.”

The city was on a time crunch to make the decision as Finance Officer Regina Slovensky said insurance rate projections arrived behind schedule. She explained that the city’s insurance representative was working to secure the most affordable option.

The aldermen agreed that if they were going to raise the deductible, they needed to allow city employees the chance to give their opinions first. Instead, they decided to stick with the $250 deductible and have the city absorb the extra costs.

“Let’s go that route, and then next year we’ll do better, if we have to look at something different,” DeRennaux said.

Another driving factor for the decision was a desire to offer competitive benefits.

“One of the things that we kind of pride ourselves on as a city is that we do offer very good insurance,” Ward 2 Alderman Jason Ward said.

“We always try to help our personnel in ways where we can’t offer a big paycheck,” DeRennaux said in agreement. “We’ve lost linemen, we’ve lost regular workers to other cities with higher salaries. It’ll always be that way. What we can do is find these areas where we can benefit our workers.”

In parks-related news, renovations to Steelville City Pool are underway and the pool is on track to open in early July as planned. Lifeguard, pool manager and assistant pool manager applications are under review, with the city aiming to hire in time for lifeguard training in Cuba this weekend.

There was discussion around allowing Steelville locals to use the pool at no cost for the summer due to the shortened season, but the decision was not finalized and the discussion will be continued at a future meeting.

An area called The Grove (located near the helipad) is being cleaned out by city crews and will become a T-ball field for the community to use.

The city will also be looking into applying for a grant to use for improvements to Steelville City Park. Specific construction needs have yet to be identified.