On Monday, Aug. 24, the Pentwater Village Council met with only two items on their agenda: changing utility rates for water and sewer and the resignation of the village manager. All council members were present.
Outgoing Village Manager Rachel Witherspoon introduced the subject of the utility rates and reported that the village’s current billing structure resulted in increasing deficits for the past eight years. “Unless we make a change, we will soon be unable to meet our bond payments. At that point the state will come in and tell us how to eliminate our deficit.”
Witherspoon has been working with Kyle Bond from the Michigan Rural Water Association to find a solution. Bond addressed the council to explain a chart comparing two methods of determining utility rates and how each would impact the quarterly bills of residents.
The method that Pentwater has been using is to charge a base rate to every resident for the first 10,000 gallons of water and sewer usage. A “volume charge” per 1,000 gallons is added for each 1,000 gallons over the initial 10,000 gallons. With this method a resident using 10,000 gallons would pay the same charge as a resident using only 1,000 or 5,000 gallons.
The second method uses a “pay per use structure.” This method charges a base rate to every resident and adds a “volume charge” for each 1,000 gallons used. With this method, a resident using 10,000 gallons would pay more than the resident using only 1,000 or 5,000 gallons. This method enables more equity in the billing of residents.
Prior to the meeting, Bond made himself available to meet with council members individually to answer any questions they had. He responded to further questions at the meeting. A motion to approve changing the village’s method of billing for water and sewer to the “pay per use structure” was approved with one dissenting vote by council member David Bluhm.
Since changing the billing structure will mean higher utility bills for residents, council members were concerned about giving residents sufficient notice of the change and holding public meetings with residents to explain the reasoning behind the change. Village Clerk/Treasurer Rande Listerman noted that for some residents on fixed incomes who might find higher quarterly bills a challenge, a possible option would be bi-monthly bills. A notice of the change will be sent as soon as possible to allow a 30-day notification prior to the October-January quarterly billing.
Bond acknowledged that the state park adds a significant amount of sand into the village’s water and sewer system that has shortened the life of the membranes in the system by 10 years. There are plans to quantify the amount of sand put into the system and add a surcharge to the billing for the state park.
The second agenda item was Witherspoon's resignation. Council President Mary Marshall began by listing the significant accomplishments Witherspoon made during her tenure and thanked her for all her contributions. Other council members echoed Marshall’s appreciation. A motion to accept Witherspoon’s resignation with regrets was made by Jared Griffis and approved. Council members Palmer, Marshall, O’Connor and Griffis all expressed both surprise and disappointment at her resignation. “I thought you were hitting it out of the park,” Griffis told her. “I think maybe you didn’t know what all you were getting into when you took the job. I know we didn’t know everything you were getting into at the time.”
Witherspoon replied emotionally, “Yes, you are exactly right. I didn’t know what I was getting into. I have learned so much in my time here. I love this community, and I have appreciated all of you very much. I have enjoyed working with you and will miss you.”
Marshall reported that two local residents have expressed interest in applying for the village manager position, and the personnel committee had already met with one of the persons. Council wants to look at internal applicants before hiring an outside company to seek and screen outside applicants. For purposes of a smooth transition, council agreed to hire an interim manager until a permanent replacement can be found. A motion to appoint James “Toby” Van Ess (currently the village zoning administrator) as the interim manager was approved unanimously, and Marshall was given the responsibility to work out the financial details pending council approval.
The meeting adjourned at 7:05 p.m.
