City Amends Policy On Delinquent Bills

Mountain View City Council approved a policy changing the water and wastewater delinquent dates and service disconnection dates, with hopes to make the workload lighter for employees.

The policy stated the billing cycle runs from the 15th to the 15th of each month and bills are not prorated. Bills are mailed the last working day of each month and due upon receipt. 

Bills that are not paid by the 10th day of each month are considered past due and will be assessed a penalty equal to 10-percent of the past due balance. If the due date falls on a holiday or weekend, customers will have the following business day to pay without a penalty. 

Disconnect notices will be mailed by the 15th day of each month for any delinquent account. Customers have until the 24th day of each month to pay their bill in full. The 25th day of each month will be the service disconnection date, or the following business day if the disconnection date falls on a holiday or weekend. 

Delinquent fees are currently $30 inside the city and $40 outside the city. 
A customer’s entire account balance, in addition to the delinquent fee, must be paid in full to ensure service is not disconnected. If service is disconnected, it could take up to two full business days for reconnection after the account balance and delinquent fee have been paid.

Payment arrangements may be available and must be in place before disconnection date. If a bill is not received by the 10th, customers are urged to call the water department for their account balance. 
The policy also includes a $100 fee for anyone who tampers with a meter, which is property of Mountain View Water Department. 

Water Superintendent Keith Johnson also told the council the water department no longer accepts payments over the phone. He said customers could pay at the office, the drive through, night drop box, bank draft, or online. 

The council unanimously approved the policy, agreeing the tampering fees should be at the discretion of the water department.

Also at the meeting, the council adopted rules and regulations concerning external noise attenuation of data centers and to prevent noise disturbance in Mountain View.

Mayor Roger Gardner said the ordinance (published on page 7-8 B) was drafted by Arkansas Municipal League and was being adopted by cities to prevent noise pollution from crypto mining (data centers).

The council unanimously agreed to adopt the ordinance. 

In other business the council:

• approved a pay request from CWB Engineers in the amount of $147,910.25 for cleaning and televising lines for waste water improvements.

• approved a pay request from SALT Engineers in the amount of $9,120 for construction service.

• approved a pay request from SALT Engineers in the amount of $213,216.80 for work conducted by McClanahan Industries. 

• discussed the lease renewal for Mountain View preschool on Killian Street. Gardner said the lease was up in August. The council plans to renew the agreement once a lease agreement is available. 

• heard from Gardner concerning sick time donations discussed at the previous meeting. He said 30 hours were donated by fellow officers to an officer who was missing work due to a family illness.

• heard from Councilman Danny Simmons asking if the motion sensors on the stop lights would soon be operating properly. Gardner said there was a delay, but the issue should be corrected within a few days.

• heard an update from Gardner on the hail damage to city property. He said the vehicles and buildings had been assessed, and some older vehicles were totaled. He thought the best thing to do was buy back the totaled trucks and replace the windshields. 

• heard an update on the pool from Gardner. He said another section of concrete was poured. He said it didn’t look like the pool would be opening this year.  

• approved financial reports.