Billing discussions continue

The Upper Platte River Solid Waste Disposal District (UPRSWDD) met at 7 p.m. on November 4 to hold their regularly scheduled meeting. Following the trend of the previous meeting, the major focus became that of the past due accounts and what should be done.

The meeting began with site reports and discussion of waste management, however it quickly moved on to the previously established billing issues. Ellie Dana-Raymer stated that the district has been working on increasing communication with customers by putting out reminders and postcards to remind them of payments.

At the time of the meeting, Dana-Raymer informed the board that there were 130 people behind on payments, with 95 of those being four months behind. As a result, the district has over $14,000 in past due accounts. Overall, there was a decrease in past dues since the last meeting.

It was stated that when a location is sold it is difficult to get the information, especially if the location is out of town. Dana-Raymer asked the board to send a letter to realtors to include landfill information at closing.  Sue Jones stated that the information is already included in realtor packets. Disagreement ensued between the two parties, however it ended with Dana-Raymer stating they would revise the letter, in order to ensure realtors would have the most recent information for getting landfill services.

Conversation moved on to the landlord tenant relationship issues discussed in the last meeting. It was suggested to publish the information the district has on specific locations, so tenants know if they, or the landlord are paying dues for the landfill. It was stated that it is difficult to tell who is a tenant and who is a landlord from the town map. Jones suggested looking at the assessor’s map to determine the property owner. No conclusion was reached.

After these discussions were finished, chairmanRandy Raymer brought up the possibility of denying service to delinquent accounts. He stated that, after 90 days past due, those accounts should have their landfill privilege suspended.

“I think our board needs to set a policy for delinquent accounts, that’s the one thing we haven’t done” he continued.

Leroy Stephenson stated that he would like to first confirm that those delinquent accounts were in fact real people. Jones continued, saying the delinquent accounts list she received after the last meeting had six dead people. Raymer said they had fixed a lot of issues on the list.

Jones stated that they need to have legal advice for setting a fiscal policy. She brought up the relationship between the commercial haulers and the district, saying the board needs to make sure that whatever policy the board creates does not interfere with private businesses. There are various legal questions that need to be asked. She asked that they figure out the recourses for past due accounts, as unlike water or sewer it is impossible to turn off the landfill utilities.

“Yeah we can cut them off, but then they’ll be moseying around using everybodies dumpster, and we’re gonna be taking [their trash] anyway.”

The board further discussed actions for a fiscal policy, and it was determined that Jones would be responsible for doing research for a lawyer, with Raymer picking it up from there.

More site reports were discussed, with the meeting finishing on discussion of Dana-Raymer’s contract with the district.

Stephenson questioned if Caryn Bonnel would be able to complete the billing tasks by herself now, or if they would need to keep Dana-Raymer on longer. Bonnel expressed that they have been working as a team, however she would be willing to put in more hours if needed. She stated that the job was definitely a full-time position now. The hours they are working is more than was originally thought they would need to do.

The board expressed that they are happy with the current course, and are looking forward to fixing the issues discussed. The next meeting will be at 7 p.m. on December 2 at the Platte Valley Community Center.