WHITMIRE — Whitmire Town Council authorized Town Attorney Robert Lake IV to proceed with preparing an ordinance that would finalize the charges for after hour service calls. The motion was made by Councilman Michael Thomas and seconded by Jimmy Dunaway.
“We get a tremendous amount of calls after hours and so forth, we do respond and we’ll continue to respond, but researching other people’s water bills, they are charging people for these services,” said Mayor Billy Hollingsworth. “If we decide to do this, we’ll put it in the form of an ordinance, have two readings, a public hearing and a final hearing.”
Hollingsworth presented Council with the proposed numbers. He read that in the event a customer requests water be disconnected from service, the meter will be removed after two months and a fee of $250 will be charged to re-install the meter and reconnect water service.
A fee of $50 will be charged to reconnect water service if the meter has not been removed.
Hollingsworth continued, saying if a resident or business is vacated for more than one year, or completely demolished, and water and sewer lines cannot be located by the landowner a new water and sewer tap will be required and if a customer is disconnected a fee of $50 will have to be paid to reconnect water and sewer service, service will not be restored until the next business day.
A meter test fee of $50 will be charged for more then one data log per meter per gallon a year, this fee will be added to the next month’s water bill along with a $50 charge if a sewer service call is received after hours.
In other business, the Town of Whitmire had a beginning balance of $12,211.85, deposits of $135,193.89 and expenditures $111,024.71 for an ending balance of $36,381.03. On the public works side, the town saw a beginning balance of $323.59, revenue of $130,157.19 and expenditures of $81,371.28 for an ending balance of $49,109.50. Hollingsworth noted the town cashed in a CD of $57,751.11 to cover monthly expenses and payroll.
Other business:
• Peggy West and Meg Muir spoke before Council to gather names of historians in town for an exhibit in the Newberry County Museum.
• A motion was made by Thomas and seconded by Councilman Dwight Lane to pass the second reading of the Setoff Debt Ordinance amendment.
• The Town of Whitmire Christmas Tree Lighting will be held November 30 at 6:30 p.m. and the Christmas Parade will be held December 8 at 1 p.m. with line up at noon. The theme this year is “Old Fashion Christmas.”
• The Whitmire Police Department filed 105 incidents for month of October and issued 89 citations for the month. Some of the department’s calls included: domestic violence, burglary, shoplifting, larceny, possession of marijuana, motor vehicle theft, resisting arrest and vandalism. The department also investigated three traffic collisions.
• A motion was passed by Thomas and seconded by Councilman Galen Roche to approve the first reading of an amendment to nuisance ordinance sections 93.26 and 93.27, Notice and Abatement and Failure to Abate Nuisance.
