Ordinances will affect some multi-tenant buildings’ sewer, garbage fees

Mayor Bill Sheckles and Councilman Bobby Simpson talk prior to Tuesday’s Bardstown City Council meeting. Click to enlarge.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Friday, Aug. 17, 2012 — Landlords of certain strip malls and multi-unit apartments may be paying more to the City of Bardstown for water and garbage services after the City Council approved two ordinances at its meeting Tuesday evening.

GARBAGE FEES. As explained by Mike Abell, the city’s chief financial officer, the city has no method of collecting garbage fees from customers who do not use city electric and do not receive a city water bill. Unless a tenant is a direct customer of city water or electricity, “there is no practical way bill them,” he said.

If the owner of an apartment building has a single water meter serving the building and if the building isn’t served by the city electric utility, the landlord will be charged a garbage fee for every unit.

If individual apartment units have metered utility service with the city of Bardstown (water or electric), the occupants already receive a garbage bill on the utility bill, so there will be no changes.

“This has evolved as the town has grown beyond our electric lines and we need to address it,” Mike Abell.

Mike Abell, the city’s chief financial officer.

SEWER CHARGE CHANGES. The council also unanimously approved first reading of an ordinance that will also address similar circumstances in assessing sewer charges in multi-unit apartments and commercial buildings.

Landlords who own apartment buildings served by a single water meter pay a sewer bill for the building based on water usage, Abell said. The landlord is also assessed a minimum sewer bill for each unit. He said this practice has been in place for years in the current ordinances, but the existing ordinance did not address mult-tenan commercial buildings.

In commercial buildings served by a single water meter, the landlord pays a sewer charge based on water usage, and then an additional minimum sewer bill for each unit in multi-tenant building like a strip mall.

“We don’t know who lives in the buildings,” Abell said. “If the landlord chose to have only one water meter, the landlord gets the sewer bill.”

The second reading of both ordinances passed by a unanimous vote.

NEW CITY JOBS DISCUSSED. The council spent time in extensive discussions about the new job positions included in the proposed classification and compensation plan. The Safety Committee and Electric and Cable Committee both met with city staff to review the need for creating the new positions.

Two positions in the police department — a part-time crime scene investigator and a part-time evidence technician — were discussed in a recent Safety Committee meeting, and the council members who attended reported Tuesday evening they agreed the new positions were justified.

Councilman Fred Hagan said he went with the Electric and Cable Committee to the city shop and saw firsthand the need for a warehouse clerk. “I feel the need is there from what I saw, and I’m a lot more comfortable with it,” he said.

But not everyone was convinced of making the stockroom clerk a full-time position.

“It’s hard to believe you’re going to need a stockroom clerk eight hours a day, five days a week,” Councilman Bobby Simpson said. He supported hiring a person to train as a lineman who could also take care of the stockroom job on a part-time basis.

Councilman Tommy Reed said he believed it would be better to start someone out part-time as a stockroom clerk and then determine the need.

After additional discussion about the classification plan, questions were raised about firefighter classifications and some uncertainty about the changes inserted by Assistant City Administrator Larry Green who was not at the meeting. The council agreed with Mayor Bill Sheckle’s suggestion to table the ordinance.

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