Local News – Monday, December 18th, 2023

The Salem Utility Committee met Wednesday evening at the Salem Community Center@The Armory. The Utility Committee heard a presentation from ServLine that protects both the city and consumers when it comes to large water leaks or sewer leaks on the customer side of the meter that create large water or sewer bills for customers. Those large bills usually end up in a contract with the city which takes some time to be paid off and in some cases, never get paid off. With the Servline program, the customer would only pay their normal average bill for their water service, while the ServLine program would pay the city for the extra water and sewer charges from the leak up to $1,000. This program can be voluntary or mandatory. The utility committee will recommend to the board of Aldermen to go with having a voluntary program with a $1,000 limit of protection that would cost the utility customer an additional $2.00 per month for water and an additional $2.00 for sewer, pending legal review. These costs will be added to the users bill and there is a maximum of one claim per year. Since the program is voluntary, utility customers can opt out of the program if they wish. The other program ServLine offers is insurance on your external water and sewer lines as well as indoor plumbing that will be marketed locally by ServLine. Individuals can choose external water service and sewer service protection as well as in-door plumbing protection. Customers can choose one service, two services, or all three and each service comes with its own price and there is no discount to get all three. The utility committee elected not to take the municipal fee of $.50 per account from ServLine for those who sign up which reduces the monthly service cost for the utility customer. This service is similar to an insurance policy and is totally separate of your city utility service. Persons would pay the service charge directly to Servline. After City of Salem Finance Director Stacey Houston reviewed the financial report which looked in line with the expected budgeted numbers, Jennifer Cochran from the Utility Department said the city was able to e-mail sample bills successfully and will try to send e-mail bills to ten volunteers this month. If that works, the city will open up sending e-mail utility bills the following billing cycle to customers. As for Excleron, she said the city has two to 12 people daily paying their bills online. The 24-hour phone bill pay system though is not yet working. City Administrator Sally Burbridge gave the MPUA and MMMPEP meeting updates before the utility committee voted to change the wording of the ordinance defining committees.

They agreed to remove the reference to the “street department construction, maintenance and repair” from the Utility Committee description. This will also be recommended to the Board of Aldermen. The board discussed changing the deposit rates from the current flat rates to 1/12th of the historic utility costs at each specific address. The committee eventually came around to agreeing to recommend this to the alderman after they heard about Online Utility Exchange services that perform soft credit checks and can also do online collections of past due accounts. The meeting was then adjourned.

Filings are continuing for the City of Salem Board of Aldermen and mayoral positions through December 26th. As of Thursday, here is the list of candidates who have signed up to run for the east and west ward alderman positions and for mayor. For mayor, incumbent Greg Parker has refiled and he is being challenged by Lisa Elliot, Grover Whitley and Eddie Fleetwood. For the East Ward Alderman seat, incumbent Kala Sisco has filed as has James Vance; and for the West Ward Alderman position, Catherine Dent and Richard LaBrash have filed. To file for the mayor’s position, you must be at least 25-years of age, have lived in Salem for at least one year at the time of the election, and must be current on all taxes owed and up to date on all utility payments. Those who want to file for an alderman seat, there is a $25 filing fee, you must be at least 21-years of age, must have lived in Salem in the ward for which you are running for at least one year at the time of the election, and must be current on all taxes owed and up to date on all utility payments. Sign ups are held at the City Administration Building at 400 North Iron Street. If you have any questions, contact City Clerk Tammy Koller at 729-5211.