Beginning at the first of September, residents of Signal Mountain will be seeing an increase in their water and sewer bills and the Signal Mountain Water Utility will be getting additional revenue that is needed to run the company. At the Monday council meeting, based on the recommendation of Water Utility Director Matt Justice, approval was given to establish new water rates. He told the council that data showed that the rates being paid in Signal Mountain were lower than comparable municipalities.
For those living inside town limits, the water service activation fee will now be $50 and there will be a monthly service fee of $6.48 and the usage cost will be $8.28 per every 1,000 gallons. Customers living outside town limits will pay a $60 activation fee, a $7.78 monthly service fee and $9.94 per every 1,000 gallons.
The new cost for billing customers for sewer service on behalf of the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority will be increasing from $1 per customer to $1.75 per month per customer.
Another potential source of income for the water company could come from savings if customers choose paperless billing. Vice Mayor Elizabeth Baker asked the council members to use their supporters’ email lists to encourage town residents to sign up for paperless billing for water and sewer. That would save 73 cents per month per bill for the water company and could really add up, she said.
Mayor Charles Poss said that the town will attempt to get the word out about these rate increases to residents so they will not be surprised when opening a bill. The information will be put on the Signal Mountain Facebook page and sent through emails.
The town’s water company will also be getting vehicles. For the past two years, two new work trucks have been planned for and budgeted, but there has been no vehicle availability until now. The council gave the approval to order two, 4-wheel drive Chevrolet Silverados for an amount not to exceed $71,628 that will be used by the water utility department.
Vice Mayor Baker reported that she had read a brief of all that happened this year in the Tennessee state legislature and several items will require amendments to Signal Mountain’s codes. One change is that the town’s ethics officer must be recorded on a directory with the state’s ethics committee. Another change is that the council meeting’s agenda must be available 48 hours before the meeting. There also must be a reasonable description of everything on the agenda that will be voted on and a recognized time on the agenda for public comments at every public meeting. Items that will require an ordinance change will be discussed at the next council meeting.
Also stemming from the legislature’s decisions during the past year will be discussion at a later date about alcohol sales at the MACC and the question of the town’s liability, insurance and conditions in the town’s lease for the facility. The credentials for a municipality’s building inspector have been changed. A municipality’s authority to issue certain permits has been replaced by the state issuing those permits.
Judicial issues that could save money for the town is for City Judge Gary Humble to consistently enforce the ordinance requiring court costs to be charged. And the judge is open to moving the court hearings from evenings to work-day hours which could save paying staff overtime, said Mayor Poss.
The rec board has a priority list which helps schedule the use of fields. There has been some frustration with individuals wanting to use fields at times when they are being used by rec leagues and select teams, said Councilman Andrew Gardner, the council’s liaison with the board. One solution he suggested was to put a schedule of availability on Signal Mountain’s website. There is one small field on the mountain that is not suitable for team sports because of inadequate parking. There is a possibility of making that a community field. And it was suggested to put a schedule of times available for other town owned facilities for any organization wishing to use them.
Another item being considered by the rec board is a request to convert some tennis courts into pickleball courts and how that could be funded.