Mingo Junction cracking down on water bill delinquencies
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MINGO JUNCTION -- The Village of Mingo Junction is beginning to crack down on water bill delinquencies, having already received more than $20,000 in overdue payments from delinquent individuals over the last week.
Orchestrated by Mayor Judy Ruckman, the crackdown is a means to fight rampant water bill delinquencies within the village, some spanning multiple years or racking up thousands of dollars in fees.
The village's Facebook page made an announcement following the Jan. 9 council meeting, stating that the village will be getting more aggressive about sending notices and subsequently cutting off delinquent individuals' water. Since the announcement, individuals have begun paying large amounts of their overdue bills, leading to the $20,000 income.
"We've had people come in with as much as $3,000 at one time," said village Administrator Darrin Corrigan. "We're going to continue to crack down."
By Wednesday, 40 notices will have been sent to delinquent individuals who have been given a deal in the past. That will give them 24 hours to pay their bill before their water is shut off, if another deal is not put in place, said George Stoddart, chief operator of the Mingo Junction Water Department. Ruckman noted that more notices will be distributed in bursts.
Stoddart thanked Corrigan and Ruckman for helping to "make things better" in the billing realm. Water department employees have been reading meters and anticipate making more notice calls in an effort to prevent billing issues from snowballing again.
"The support of (Corrigan and Ruckman) has been amazing, and we're making progress on this," Stoddart said.
Paying water bills will ideally be made easier by the village's anticipated water billing system transfer from Muni-Link to Governmental Accounting Solutions Inc. next month. The later system will allow individuals to view their past water usage and pay online, all while the village can monitor delinquencies, Ruckman said.
Until April, the village will pay for the remainder of its contract with Muni-Link, which Ruckman said has been accommodating to the transfer. Switching systems comes as a result of reported problems with village residents' billing records.
Separately, re-zoning discussions between the village council and Ewusiak Development LLC are progressing, with the village recently filling its zoning commission -- council will have its first reading of an ordinance next meeting to combine the zoning commission with the planning commission to consolidate membership.
Ewusiak is requesting to have its parcel along South Commercial Street re-zoned from heavy industrial to partially light industrial and partially commercial. With a previous zoning request from Ewusiak having fallen through in 2017, village Solicitor Craig Allen said the lengthy re-zoning process should start as soon as possible.
For a parcel to be re-zoned, a formal request must be made by the property owner to the zoning commission. The commission will review the request and hold a public hearing for comment, after which point it will make a recommendation to council, which has the final vote for approval.
Additionally, Corrigan said he will be working with each village department to update their "pretty outdated" phone systems. The village's current phone system has no transfer or voicemail capabilities, leading to negative feedback from residents.
Corrigan said he will hear from World Radio Telecommunications, which also proposes to update the village's security camera systems. Updates, which will bring the village's camera systems into uniformity and aid with policing efforts, will be done in phases dependent on available grant funding, Ruckman added.
In other business:
• Council scheduled a water and sewer board meeting on Jan. 25 at 4 p.m. and a finance meeting on Feb. 6 at 6 p.m.
• Corrigan said a snow plow driver accidentally destroyed part of the southernmost speed hump on Eleanor Street, leading to the later and total removal of the hump -- one of three on the street. The plow was not damaged, Corrigan said, and the hump will be replaced later.
• Council discussed issues noted by the safety committee, including adding a handicap sign at 682 1/2 Commercial St., filling potholes in the parking lot across from Indian Village Apartments and adding a traffic mirror at the entrance to Oakland Cemetery.
• Councilman Jack Brettell said he will contact the contractor for concrete replacement work at the Mingo Junction Pool to see about having the work completed in time to test the pool's new pumps before the pool's opening on May 31.
• Ruckman said the village's ordinances from 2017 to the present will be submitted to the Walter H. Drane Co. Inc. to be codified. Updating the village's ordinances is a necessary step before the village can consider re-starting mayor's court, Ruckman said, though the court's burdensome requirements and procedures make it an unlikely development for the village any time soon.
• Corrigan said torn-up segments of sidewalk across Commercial Street from the Mingo Junction Senior Center will be temporarily filled with two layers of concrete surround a layer of plastic until they can be filled with hot-mixed concrete, dependent on weather.